GETTING STARTED: The usual purpose for a lit review is to identify existing literature on a topic that you plan to explore. You must first decide on on a topic, problem, or theme. An example topic is "The Effects of Violent Video Games on Youth." You most likely have access to several databases at your university library. If you do not, try a Google academic search. Use a meta search or pinpoint databases or journals that are geared toward your topic. To find literature on violent video games, you will want to look at psychology, communication, and possibly some news publications as well. Play around with your search terms and databases if you aren't getting the results that you want.
NARROW YOUR SEARCH: Read abstracts to determine if the article is appropriate and be sure to gather mostly primary sources. A primary source is a piece of original research. It is not a review, a report on someone else's findings or a meta-analysis. All of these secondary sources can be useful, but just be sure that they do not comprise the bulk of your lit review. Try to identify who the major researchers are in your subject area and focus on them. You will also want to identify competing theories and conflicting findings. For example, if your topic is "The Effects of Violent Video Games on Youth," you need to find research that shows both harmful effects and positive effects or lack of harmful effects. If possible, you should also have sources that address nonviolent video games and/or sources that have non-youth as a sample. Finally, you may want to look into the competing theories on how the video games exert their effects. Typically you will need a minimum of 10 to 15 sources for a good review. However, keep in mind the nature of your topic. Violent video games is a very popular topic, so you will need more sources to get a fair perspective than if you chose something very specific and unusual. Utilize the bibliographies of articles already retrieved to find even more relevant sources.
ANALYZE YOUR ARTICLES: Attack each article with a highlighter and a pen. Identify the sample size, sampling method, and sample demographics (eg, age, ethnicity, geographic location, education level). How did the various experimenters define "violent"? This is a very important factor as the meaning of violent and other subjective research terms may differ greatly between people. What method and materials did the researchers use (i.e., which video games did the kids play and for how long?)? How did they test their variables, such as the effect of the game? They could have measured galvanized skin response, looked at brain activity, administered a written assessment or used a behavioral measure such as interaction with a bobo doll. Think about how the tests could differ in their reliability and validity. Look at the findings and take note of whether they were significant or not. What conclusions did the researchers draw from their results? Do you agree? Why or why not? For example, if the researchers find no significant effects of violent video games on their sample and conclude that these games are harmless, do you agree with them? Or is there some aspect of their methodology that makes you skeptical? Finally, note any shortcomings of the study, both those identified by the researchers and those you find on your own. For example, if the researchers sampled only 10-year-old white boys who live in Springfield, Illinois, there is definite room for improvement. There are many factors on which an article can be analyzed and judged, but if you cover these bases, you will be doing quite well.
WRITE IT: Ideally, you would not simply address each article one by one but discuss them in the framework of different themes, findings, theories or methodologies. As you gather and analyze your sources, you sometimes find that each fits into a specific category and that there is some logical organization taking shape. If this is the case, great! You already are a step ahead in writing the review. The easiest way to organize your paper if you are having trouble is to come up with categories that will be your headings for each section. Example one: findings of harmful effects, findings of positive effects, no significant findings. Example two: behavioral measures, biological measures, written measures. Example three: support for theory one, support for theory two, support for theory three. Whichever framework you choose will depend upon what the literature reveals and which aspects you find the most interesting and worthy of further examination. Lastly, do not forget to develop an argument that will underscore the entire review. The argument should be a hypothesis for what is really going on with the effect or the current methods of testing it. For example, "The research fails to demonstrate effectively that violent video games are harmful, these games are not harmful", or more specifically "The current prevailing methodology is not effective in testing the variables" or "The term violent is not adequately defined in the literature and therefore the findings are inconclusive." Here's a little secret of the academic world: You will be successful using any argument as long as you can argue it effectively by showing some evidence to support it. Good Luck!