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Research Guidance for Curriculum & Instruction Graduate Programs: 5. Annotated Bibliography Vs. Literature Review

Annotated Bibliography

An annotated bibliography is a bibliography in which you write a brief description (1-2 paragraphs) of an article or book chapter that you have read. It is a summary and/or evaluation of your sources. This form of writing is to summarize, assess/evaluate, and reflect on the source.

  • Locate and record citations to books, periodicals, journals, and documents that may contain useful information and ideas on your selected topic. Briefly examine and review the literature. Then, choose those works that provide a variety of perspectives on your topic.

  • When writing your annotated bibliography, cite the source of focus using APA formatting guidelines. Then write a concise annotation summarizing the reference's central theme and scope. Be sure to (a) evaluate the authority or background of the author, (b) comment on the intended audience, (c) compare or contrast this work with others, (d) explain how this work contributes to your understanding of the bibliography topic. See the APA Manual for a Sample Annotated Bibliography.

Writing tips

Resources for Writing an Annotated Bibliography: Use Pan (2017) chapters 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 as you search for sources and take notes. In particular

  • Consider your personal/professional interests when selecting a topic;

  • Scan titles and abstracts of articles in professional journals;

  • Select your topic with an eye toward your capstone project;

  • Use appropriate search terms to narrow your results;

  • When in doubt, cite the source (if someone else’s idea is rephrased, the original source should be cited)

Refer to the Following Sections of the APA Manual (or https://apastyle.apa.org/): 

  • Elements & Format for guidance on margins, font, and line spacing

  • Writing & Grammar for guidance on the writing of the annotations

  • Bias-Free Language for guidance on the writing of the annotations

  • Mechanics of Style for guidance on the writing of the annotations

  • Reference List for guidance and an example of an annotated bibliography

  • Reference Examples for templates and examples of reference list entries

Literature Review

The literature review is not an annotated bibliography or summary of sources but a critique of the literature based on your guiding question. By now you have read and synthesized the literature, looking for changes over time, patterns across studies/scholarship, conflicts, and agreement, and the next step is to arrive at some conclusions that can be drawn. In other words, critique the literature and identify what new research needs to be done.

...The critique of the literature creates a thesis statement that takes a position on what is currently known about the subject of study. Projects such as doctoral dissertations and some master’s theses use the complex literature review…and demand thesis statements that extend topic knowledge beyond what is known by uncovering a new research position and a new research problem to study. The researcher must ask more questions.

  • What new research would logically extend present knowledge?
  • What are the gaps, contradictions, omissions, and debates about the research subject that were uncovered by the discovery argument?
  • The literature critique must go further than just advocating what is known and logically identify and define a new unanswered question--a significant question requiring new primary research. (Machi & McEvoy, 2016, p. 109)