Once you have collected the literature, you can synthesize how these items fit into your research project.

One strategy is to create a synthesis matrix, which helps you

• organize the main points of each book, article, or other information resource you use
• allows you to see how the sources relate to each other and helps guide your writing
• see gaps where you might need to go back and look for more sources
• show that your research is answering a gap in the literature. 

Below are two examples of literature synthesis matrices.

(credit Andrew Davis at University of Mississippi)

2:06 Tutorial about creating a synthesis matrix

Note: I prefer the references to be listed vertically rather than horizontally as shown in the video.