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Literature Reviews and Annotated Bibliographies

Synthesize your Lit Review

Organizing Your Writing

There are several ways to organize your literature review:

•Chronologically—usually only useful if this illuminates some underlying trend 
•Methodologically—highlights different schools of thought when it comes to understanding a particular political phenomenon and takes a stand on their strengths and drawbacks.
•Thematically—useful if your research question touches on multiple different literatures

These modes of organization are not mutually exclusive—often a literature review will partake of multiple while foregrounding a particular one.

Create an outline:

Review the Literature Review Matrix you created for themes and connecting ideas. Use the following guidelines to prepare an outline of the main points you want to make. 

  • Synthesize previous research on the topic.
  • Aim to include both summary and synthesis.
  • Include literature that supports your research question as well as that which offers a different perspective.
  • Avoid relying on one author or publication too heavily.
  • Select an organizational structure, such as chronological, methodological, and thematic.

Student Writing

Red X markStudent A uses quotes from only ONE source and fails to use her own voice to make any arguments

Red XStudent B cherry picks quotes from THREE sources and uses block quotes instead of making his own point

Red X Student C quotes from THREE sources but does not show how the sources interact or converse with one another and does not provide sources for their arguments in the final paragraph

Green checkmarkStudent D synthesizes from FIVE sources, shows how they relate to

Citation Management