You built up your collection based on your research question- and you started organizing it to make writing easier. Now you want to bring your own voice to the project.
For each item, you can ask yourself:
As you evaluate sources you might consider questions like:
What kinds of sources would be most helpful?
As you get an overview of the topic, identify common themes, issues, and perspectives. Your literature review will ideally reflect these varying perspectives. If specific people or information sources have played an important role in discussions about the topic, consider representing them in the review.
For more on evaluating sources see:
When am I done finding sources?
As you approach the end of your literature search, you will begin to recognize consistent patterns in what you find. These patterns may come in the form of:
• Recurring authors • Recurring institutions or organizations • Recurring structures of how thoughts/findings are organized
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First, write to understand.
Review your notes, memoranda, etc.
Could you teach this topic to others?
Exploratory write and outline- work through your problem
Then, write to be understood.
Write a messy draft
Do an edit
Repeat as necessary
Review your writing- are you telling the right story?