The purpose of a literature idea is to understand the major arguments and main ideas in the field you're studying. Make sure the ideas are clearly related to each other, and make sure to always include a citation for your sources. Notice that a literature review focuses on one idea at a time, not one source at a time.
You've each been given a paragraph from a literature review. Using highlighters, mark the following:
1. Main/controlling ideas. This is where you explain on which idea you're going to focus. Why are these sources relevant to your topic?
2. Introductory phrases / transitions. This is where you explain how sources are related to each other. Do they agree? Disagree? Contradict? Add new information? Build on previous ideas?
3. Citations. Remember, you must always include a proper citation to indicate where the information can be found. If multiple sources discuss the same information, you should include multiple citations.
The example literature review was taken from:
Kim, Nam Kyu & Alex M Kroeger. (2017). Regime and leader instability under two forms of military rule. Comparative Political Studies. Accessed 10 Feb. 2017. DOI: 10.1177/0010414016688009
You can find the complete article here: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0010414016688009
This excerpt is taken from
Butler, D. M. and Dynes, A. M. (2016). How politicians discount the opinions of constituents with whom they disagree. American Journal of Political Science, 60: 975–989. doi:10.1111/ajps.12206