Overview
Discuss the literature related to your proposed study. This section is designed to inform readers about past studies on that inform your study and provide perspectives on your area of interest. The review should include a brief discussion of any “classical studies” in this area, if appropriate, but the major portion of the content should focus on the past decade of research. It should close with a logical summary of past research and transition to a statement about what should be studied next.
It is a good idea to organize your Review of Literature by topical clusters. In general, it is better to use a topical organization rather than merely reporting studies in chronological order. Note the organization of the example literature reviews attached. I highly recommend you model your review after one of the examples.
All research cited must relate to your topic (the question being studied) and should be properly referenced, using APA style. You will find it easiest to write the entire paper in the past tense, since everything you eventually report has already happened. Current research articles may serve as an excellent source to guide you to past research in the specific area.
After you present what is already known, make your case for your research either answering a new question, getting a new answer to an old question, answering a question about a new population, etc. After you have made your case that your research is going to give new information, you will summarize the major points. Remember that the Introduction discusses the problem. The review of literature should concentrate on solutions (those that exist, those that are still required). Finally, you will formulate (in the last sentence) your research question or your hypothesis.
When you cite studies in your review of literature, be sure to properly format the citations based on APA style. For example, within a sentence, you would cite Hunlew and Wang (2009) or within a parenthesis, it would be (Hunlew & Wang, 2009; Jackson, 2010) in alphabetical order. If there are more than three authors on a paper (and less than six) you would cite all three the first time, e.g., Bunker, Hunlew and Wang (2008), and Bunker et al. (2008) thereafter (see Publication Manual of the APA (2009).
This should be at least 4 complete pages (double-spaced).