Proposal Part 5 (REDUX): Mini-Literature Review

I found a few items on the literature review previously (see blog post from March 31st).  This is the only part of the Proposal I haven't completed yet.  I've struggled with this one for several reasons:

1. I have nearly 300 scholarly works in the literature search I did over the holidays, including those that I have picked up while writing the proposal.  So much material!  Where to find the time to read then synthesize it all?!  
2. The real literature review for the dissertation will be 40 to 50 pages long; the one for the proposal is to be only 5 pages long.  I find myself venturing on the all-or-nothing precipice. Where to begin a mini-review?
3. As you can probably tell from my blog entries, I suffer a bit from "scope creep."  I like to write, so I find myself going down various rabbit trails with particular works - whether they have any merit on the topic at hand or not.

I spoke with a colleague of mine the other day (Susan K.) who earned her PhD some time ago.  She suggested that I organize my review around the research questions.

Well...duh.  That's so obvious!  I didn't see that at all until she mentioned it.  Thank you, Susan!