Writing an Annotated Bibliography: Tips

An annotated bibliography is a list of sources (books, articles, websites, etc.) with a short descriptive paragraph about each source. It is sometimes a useful step before writing a research paper or it can stand alone as an overview of the research available on a topic. 

Each source in the annotated bibliography starts with a citation - the information necessary for finding the original source, in APA format. Annotations are usually 4- 6 sentences long and roughly 150 words. 

Annotations include:

           The main focus or purpose of the cited work

          Usefulness or relevance to your research topic. It's value and significance as a contribution to your research.

          Background and credibility of the author

          Possible shortcomings or bias in the work

          Intended audience for the work

          Any significant special features of the work (eg. glossary, appendices, index)

           Conclusions or observations reached by the author

          Your own brief impression of the work including your own conclusions and observations

Process for Preparing an Annotated Bibliography:

• First, locate and record citations to books, periodicals, and documents that may contain useful information and ideas on your topic.
• Briefly examine and review the actual items. Then choose works that provide a variety of perspectives on your  topic.
• Cite the book, article, or document using the appropriate style.
• Write a concise annotation that summarizes the central theme and scope of the work and include the information listed above.          

Annotations versus Abstracts

Many scholarly articles start with an abstract, which is the author's summary of the article to help you decide whether you should read the entire article. This abstract is not the same thing as an annotation. The annotation needs to be in your own words, to explain the relevance of the source to your particular assignment or research question.

Examples of Well-Crafted Annotated Bibliographies:

The following examples use APA format for a journal and a book citation:

Goldschneider, F. K., Waite, L. J., & Witsberger, C. (1986). Nonfamily living and the erosion of traditional family orientations among young adults. American Sociological Review, 51, 541-554.

The authors, researchers at the Rand Corporation and Brown University, use data from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Young Women and Young Men to test their hypothesis that nonfamily living by young adults alters their attitudes, values, plans, and expectations, moving them away from their belief in traditional sex roles. They find their hypothesis strongly supported in young females, while the effects were fewer in studies of young males. Increasing the time away from parents before marrying increased individualism, self-sufficiency, and changes in attitudes about families. In contrast, an earlier study by Williams cited below shows no significant gender differences in sex role attitudes as a result of nonfamily living.

Graybosch, A., Scott, G.M. & Garrison, S. (1998).The Philosophy Student Writer's Manual. Upper Saddle River,NJ: Prentice Hall.
Designed to serve as either as a writing guide or as a primary textbook for teaching philosophy through writing, the Manual is an excellent resource for students new to philosophy. Like other books in this area, the Manual contains sections on grammar, writing strategies, introductory informal logic and the different types of writing encountered in various areas of philosophy. Of particular note, however, is the section on conducting research in philosophy. The research strategies and sources of information described there are very much up-to-date, including not only directories and periodical indexes, but also research institutes, interest groups and Internet resources.

Examples of What Your Bibliography Should Not Look Like:

Marieb, Elaine N. (1992).Human Anatomy and PhysiologyRedwood City,CA : The Benjamin/ Cummings Co.

I use this book to get the basic information about arthritis, it was very informative.

Keefe FJ., (1996) Pain in Arthritis and musculoskeletal disorders. Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy,  24, 279-290.

I got all the facts about exercising with arthritis and the different types of exercise.

Content for annotated bibliography support and examples is attributed to:

- Writing an Annotated Bibliography: Tips, by Roger Williams University Library.

"A literature review is an account of what has been published on a topic by accredited scholars and researchers. In writing the literature review, your purpose is to convey to your reader what knowledge and ideas have been established on a topic, and what their strengths and weaknesses are. As a piece of writing, the literature review must be defined by a guiding concept (e.g., your research objective, the problem or issue you are discussing, or your argumentative thesis). It is not just a descriptive list of the material available, or a set of summaries." Taylor, D. The literature review: A few tips on conducting it. University of Toronto Health Sciences Writing Centre.

Steps in the Literature Review Process

1. Define the research question
   • You may need to some exploratory searching of the literature to get a sense of scope, to determine whether you need to narrow or broaden your focus
   • Identify databases that provide the most relevant sources, and identify relevant terms (controlled vocabularies) to add to your search strategy
   • Finalize your research question
2. Determine inclusion/exclusion criteria
   • Think about relevant dates, geographies (and languages), methods, and conflicting points of view
3. Choose databases and conduct the search
   • Conduct searches in the published literature via the identified databases
   • Check to see if this topic has been covered in other discipline's databases
   • Examine the citations of on-point articles for keywords, authors, and previous research (via references) and cited reference searching.
4. Review your results
   • Save your search results in a citation management tool (such as Zotero, Mendeley or EndNote)
   • De-duplicate your search results
   • Make sure that you've found the seminal pieces -- they have been cited many times, and their work is considered foundational 
   • Check with your professor or a librarian to make sure your search has been comprehensive
5. Synthesize the information gathered
   • Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of individual sources and evaluate for bias, methodologies, and thoroughness
   • Group your results in to an organizational structure that will support why your research needs to be done, or that provides the answer to your research question  
   • Develop your conclusions
6. Analyze the information gathered
   • Are there gaps in the literature?
   • Where has significant research taken place, and who has done it?
   • Is there consensus or debate on this topic?
   • Which methodological approaches work best?
7. Write the literature review
   • Pick an organizational structure, i.e., themes, approaches, concepts, methodologies.
     • For example: Background, Current Practices, Critics and Proponents, Where/How this study will fit in 
   • Organize your citations and focus on your research question and pertinent studies
   • Compile your bibliography

Note: The first four steps are the best points at which to contact a librarian. Your Liaison Librarian can help you determine the best databases to use for your topic, assess scope, and formulate a search strategy.

Literature Reviews: An Overview for Graduate Students

This 9 minute video from North Carolina State University provides an overview of what a literature review is, defines the term 'literature' and outlines the steps of writing a literature review. This video is published under Creative Commons 3.0 BY-NC-SA US license. Source: http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/tutorials/lit-review

What kinds of literature reviews are written?

Traditional or Narrative Literature Review: "This type of review critiques and summarizes a body of literature and draws conclusions about the topic in question. The body of literature is made up of the relevant studies and knowledge that address the subject area. It is typically selective in the material it uses, although the criteria for selecting specific sources for review are not always apparent to the reader. This type of review is useful in gathering together a volume of literature in a specific subject area and summarizing and synthesizing same. Its primary purpose is to provide the reader with a comprehensive background for understanding current knowledge and highlighting the significance of new research."

Systematic Literature Review: "In contrast to the traditional or narrative review, systematic reviews employ a more rigorous and well-defined approach to reviewing the literature in a specific subject area. Systematic reviews are used to answer well focused questions about clinical practice. Parahoo (2006) suggests that a systematic review should detail the time frame within which the literature was selected as well as the methods used to evaluate and synthesize findings of the studies in question. In order for the reader to assess the reliability and validity of the review, the reviewer needs to present the precise criteria used to: formulate the research question; set inclusion or exclusion criteria; select and access the literature; assess the quality of the literature included in the review; analyze, synthesize and disseminate the findings. Unlike traditional reviews, the purpose of a systematic review is to provide as complete a list as possible of all the published and unpublished studies relating to a particular subject area. While traditional reviews attempt to summarize results of a number of studies, systematic reviews use explicit and rigorous criteria to identify, critically evaluate and synthesize all the literature on a particular topic."

Meta-analysis Review: "Meta-analysis is the process of taking a large body of quantitative findings and conducting statistical analysis in order to integrate those findings and enhance understanding. Meta-analysis is seen as a form of systematic review which is largely a statistical technique that involves taking the findings from several studies on the same subject and analyzing them using standardized statistical procedures in order to draw conclusions and detect patterns and relationships between findings (Polit and Beck, 2006)."

Meta-synthesis Review: "Meta-synthesis is the non-statistical technique used to integrate, evaluate and interpret the findings of multiple qualitative research studies. Such studies may be combined to identify their common core elements and themes. Findings from phenomenological, grounded theory or ethnographic studies may be integrated and used. Unlike meta-analysis, where the ultimate intention is to reduce findings, meta-synthesis involves analyzing and synthesizing key elements in each study, with the aim of transforming individual findings into new conceptualizations and interpretations (Polit and Beck, 2006)."

SOURCE: 

• Cronin, P., Ryan, F., & Coughlan, M. (2008). Undertaking a literature review: a step-by-step approach. British journal of nursing, 17(1), 38.

Content for Literature Review support and examples is attributed to:

- Literature Reviews, University of Texas Libraries.