How to organize literature review of the thesis?

The organization of the literature review should be based on the concepts or ideas and should proceed through the set of studies related to each concept. The broad general information should be presented first with a logical organization that moves toward the ideas and studies most relevant to the student’s own project.

The general principle is to go from a broad background to the point or idea that is one component of the idea presented in the statement of the problem. Then the review moves to another concept and covers the general moving toward the specific. Each of these tunnels leads to a statement or idea. The two or three or four ideas if combined should reflect the statement of the problem. The review of the literature is organized around the logical argument discussed in the section on the introduction. Each section of the literature review presents the studies or sources of information that provide the backing for one of the premises in the logical argument. 

Having addressed the issue of organization, the challenges of discrimination and critical thinking will now be considered. 

Discrimination and Critical Thinking 

The literature review is expected to be comprehensive and inclusive. When the student is initially reading the literature, almost everything seems related and important. As the research idea becomes more clearly formulated, it becomes much easier to categorize the studies of others as either

(1) part of the fabric of the general background, 

(2) more closely related to the focus of one’s own study, 

(3) a study that directly launches one’s own study, or 

(4) a study that is part of an interesting tangent that would unnecessarily broaden one’s own study. 

The first three categories are included in the review of the literature with varying degrees of detail, 

and the last category is omitted entirely. 

The “close-up shot” is reserved for the studies highly relevant to one’s project. In long shots, one paragraph might cover twenty or more studies. In the medium shot, one paragraph might cover one study. In the close-up, several paragraphs or a page or more might be devoted to just one study. In the close-up, details about methodology and conclusions would be included. The critique of the study might be the rationale for some of the design choices in one’s own study.

The reader may have difficulty “seeing the forest for the trees.” It is a good idea to the speechwriter’s technique of “tell the audience what you will tell them, then tell them, then tell them what you told them” In other words, each section dealing with a particular idea should begin with brief introduction and should conclude with a brief, one to three sentence summary. “It can be seen that...” “These studies suggest...” “... the issue has been raised and me evidence supporting and challenging this position has been reviewed.”

Transitional sentences or paragraphs art needed when all the studies related to one concept have been reviewed and the next idea and its supporting evidence are to presented. Following one of the minisummaries, a simple statement can be made of “now this review will turn to the issue’ of...” Even better is being able to state the logical connection between one concept and the next as it was presented in the logical argument.