Road Map for Literature Review

I did an assignment last year, writing a literature review. I was hoping it would be the literature review for my thesis which I was to do as well, but the topic didn't come in time. I was similarly confused. I didn't know whether the literature review should come first or the topic should come first. So I did the literature review with a very broad scope. Our goal was to find the gap. I thought that if I found the gap, I would have found my topic.

To my horror, I did not discover a topical gap, a methodological gap I did, but not a topical gap. I remember that episode with fear and trembling. I remember spending most of my time analyzing that I had very little time to write and I wrote like a guy seeking a treasure without a map, hoping with each paragraph that I would find my treasure. There was so argument, I simply described the landscape.

This time round, here I am! I have a topic with me now. And I want to start with my road map.

"Guideline 3: Create a topic outline that traces your "argument."
Like any other kind of essay, the review should first establish for the reader the line of argumentation you will follow (this is called the thesis in composition classes). This can be stated in the form of an assertion, a contention or a proposition; then, the writer should develop a traceable narrative that demonstrates that the line of argumentation is worthwhile and justified. This means that the writer should have formed judgments about the topic based on the analysis and synthesis of the research literature.
The topic outline should be designed as a kind of road map of the argument... Then the introduction is followed by a systematic review of the relevant areas of the research literature and ends with a conclusion that relates back to the original assertion." (p. 51) - Writing Literature Reviews by Jose L. Galvan