The first step in writing a literature review is to identify and analyze your topic. This seems like an obvious place to start, but all too often writers are tempted to just give it lip service. Many people will have a good idea of what they want to research before they start. It's the details that may be unclear. Spend time to carefully select and analyze your topic. What is the scope of your project? How selective can you be? By taking the time to understand what you are really researching you will save yourself time in the long run, and the final project will usually be clearer as well.
In order to be able to "research & collect information" (the next step) you'll need to identify the key concepts that pertain to your topic. What are the concepts that articles will need to touch upon to be of interest to you in your research? Will each article need to include all of these concepts?
In reality, you may need to identify two topics: the one for your research paper/project and the topic for the literature review itself. While they may seem the same, these two topics can actually be slightly different. Literature reviews often cover a broader topic than the actual research paper/project in order to give a good overview of how the research fits into the big picture. The two topics are definitely related, but difference can be important.
Select a topic you can manage in the timeframe you have to complete your project. Narrow down the topic if it is too broad.
Establish your research questions and organize your literature into logical categories around the subject/topic areas of your questions.
Use a variety of resources - locate books, journals, and documents that contain useful information and ideas on your topic. Internet sites, theses, conference papers, eprints and government or industry reports can also be included. Do not rely solely on electronic full-text material which is more easily available. Reference sources such as dictionaries can assist in defining terminology, and encyclopedias may be useful in introducing topics and listing key references.
You will need to review literature and analyze the information presented in each source. The review process is ongoing - you may need to go back to locate additional materials as you identify new ideas to see if others have written on similar topics.
A literature review is a piece of discursive prose, not a list describing or summarizing one piece of literature after another.
You can organize the review in many ways; for example, you can center the review historically (how this topic has been dealt with over time); or center it on the theoretical positions surrounding your topic (those for a position vs. those against, for example); or you can focus on how each of your sources contributes to your understanding of your project.
Your literature review should include
Create a bibliography of all the materials included in the literature review - books, articles, or documents using the appropriate style required by your instructor - APA, MLA, Chicago.
For citation examples see style manuals.