Review the literature review assignment. How many sources are you supposed to include? Is the review supposed to be a historical overview, covering social scientists from previous decades or centuries along with modern sources, or is it meant to focus solely on current research? Are you only allowed to use journal articles, or can you use books as well? Are you merely supposed to summarize the articles, or should you provide an evaluation or critique?
Narrow your research topic to one you could conceivably cover. For instance, "puberty rituals" and "drug abuse" are too broad. Consider which specific populations you might study; whether you are interested in researching cultural attitudes toward, causes of or solutions for a psychological or social problem; and what locations you wish to study. "Puberty rituals among young men in American Indian tribes of the Southwest" and "Peer influences on drug abuse in inner-city adolescent girls" are more focused topics.
Find journal articles, books and other materials that relate to your topic. If you choose to use the Internet, use scholarly databases such as AnthroBase and PsycINFO rather than commercial search engines, as these databases are more likely to give you reliable information.
Study the articles carefully for trends. Do they seem to be coming to similar conclusions, or is there disagreement in your topic area? Do you notice any questions that researchers seem to be missing? Have attitudes toward your topic changed over time? These trends will help you determine your review's thesis.
Create a thesis statement summarizing your basic findings. For example, you might write, "Regardless of their level of sex education, American girls rarely feel prepared for the experience of their first menstrual period" or "Child psychologists and pediatricians disagree on whether infants are safer, happier and healthier in cribs or in their parents' beds."
Determine how you will organize your paper. Depending on your topic, you may want to write chronologically, examining the trends of various time periods; thematically, examining studies with a certain theme or result before moving to studies with another theme or result; or methodologically, looking at articles that use similar research methodologies before reviewing studies that use different methodologies. For instance, in the example of infant sleeping arrangements, a chronological review would look at whether the attitudes toward separate beds vs. bed-sharing have changed over time; a thematic review would examine studies that favor separate beds and then studies that favor bed-sharing; and a methodological review might study the ways that methodologies of child psychologists and pediatricians differ.
Write your introduction. Provide your thesis statement, elaborate on it and briefly explain the kinds of studies you will examine in your literature review.
Write the body of your paper using the organizational method you chose. When writing, summarize relevant information from the studies you cite, as it is unlikely that your professor will be familiar with all of the studies you are using. Briefly explain their methodologies and findings and how these relate to your thesis. Do not summarize without relating your findings to your own ideas, as this risks transforming your literature review into an annotated bibliography.
Omit information that does not relate to your thesis. For instance, if your thesis is "Regardless of their level of sex education, American girls rarely feel prepared for the experience of their first menstrual period," you would not need to include a study's mention of how sex education prepared girls for their first sexual experience even if the same study included information related to your thesis.
Include information that contradicts your thesis, if you find any, but demonstrate that the majority of the literature is on your side. If you find an article that indicates girls with comprehensive sex education felt fully prepared for their first menstrual period, it would be dishonest to ignore this evidence, but your research should make it clear that this is the exception rather than the rule.
Write a conclusion that restates the main points of your literature review and reiterates the way that your findings prove your thesis.
Create a bibliography according to your professor's guidelines, and use any in-text citation methods associated with that style. For instance, if your professor instructs you to use APA, cite all the sources you used in APA style both in-text and in your bibliography.