AAA Shared Resource Guide

What is a literature review?

A literature review can be just a simple summary of the sources, but it usually has an organizational pattern and combines both summary and synthesis. A summary is a recap of the important information of the source, but a synthesis is a re-organization, or a reshuffling, of that information. It might give a new interpretation of old material or combine new with old interpretations. Or it might trace the intellectual progression of the field, including major debates. And depending on the situation, the literature review may evaluate the sources and advise the reader on the most pertinent or relevant.

How is a literature review different from an academic research paper?

The main focus of an academic research paper is to develop a new argument, and a research paper will contain a literature review as one of its parts. In a research paper, you use the literature as a foundation and as support for a new insight that you contribute. The focus of a literature review, however, is to summarize and synthesize the arguments and ideas of others without adding new contributions.

How do I know when I can stop?

Literature reviews can be tricky because you don't want to stop before you've found everything relevant to your topic. There are a couple of guidelines for knowing when to stop looking for materials.

1. If you have done steps 1.1-1.3 (below), when you start to see the same articles over again, then you have done your due diligence and can consider your lit review complete. That isn't to say an article might not slip through, but if you have done the steps below, then the chances of a really important article slipping past you is pretty slim.
   1. Searched all relevant databases, using a variety of keywords and subject headings
   2. Mined article bibliographies for their cited references
   3. Looked in Google Scholar (or Web of Science or, for law, HeinOnline) to see who has cited those articles
2. Think of the assignment timeline. If you are writing your PhD thesis you can spend more time doing a comprehensive lit review than if you only have a few weeks until an assignment is due. At some point you need to stop.

Flowchart from The Literature Review (2009) by Machi and McEvoy

Detailed description of, "Literature Review Process"

NOTE: This is general information about annotated bibliographies. Always defer to your professor and the course syllabus as there may be specific requirements for the class that differ from this information.

What is a bibliography?

A bibliography is a list of sources (books, journals, etc.) you used for researching your topic. Bibliographies are sometimes called "References" or "Works Cited." A bibliography includes the bibliographic information (i.e., the author, title, publisher, etc.).

What is an annotation?

An annotation is a summary and/or evaluation.

What is an annotated bibliography?

An annotated bibliography includes a summary and evaluation of each of the sources you used for researching your topic. Your annotations should do the following.

• Summarize: What are the main arguments? What is the point of this book or article? What topics are covered? If someone asked what this article/book is about, what would you say?

           For more help, see the Purdue OWL's page on paraphrasing sources.

• Evaluate: Is it a useful source? How does it compare with other sources in your bibliography? Is the information reliable? Is this source biased or objective? What is the goal of this source?     
• Reflect: Once you've summarized and evaluated a source, you need to ask how it fits into your research. Was this source helpful to you? How does it help you shape your argument? How can you use this source in your research project? Has it changed how you think about your topic?

How long should the annotations be?

Generally, annotations are one paragraph, with a goal of concise and explicative annotations. Usually one or two sentences summarizing or describing content, one or two sentences providing an evaluation, and a final sentence or two on your reflection.

What is the format?

For the bibliographic information, cite your sources according to the format required. Whichever format you use, be consistent!

The annotations for each source are written in paragraph form. The paragraph should contain a statement of the work's major thesis, from which the rest of the sentences can develop.

How should it be organized?

Usually annotated bibliographies are arranged alphabetically although sometimes they are organized chronologically, by format (books, journals, etc...), or by topic.

Why write an annotated bibliography?

To learn about your topic: Writing an annotated bibliography is excellent preparation for a research project. Collecting sources for a bibliography is useful, but when you have to write annotations for each source, you're forced to read each source more carefully. You begin to read more critically instead of just collecting information.

To help you formulate a thesis: The purpose of research is to state and support a thesis. So a very important part of research is developing a thesis that is debatable, interesting, and current. Writing an annotated bibliography can help you gain a good perspective on what is being said about your topic. By reading and responding to a variety of sources on a topic, you'll start to see what the issues are, what people are arguing about, and you'll then be able to develop your own point of view.

Adapted from the Purdue OWL's "Annotated Bibliographies" page and the Lucy Scribner Library, "Writing an Annotated Bibliography."