

Research Process
- Brainstorming
- Explore Google
- Explore Web Resources
- Explore Background Information
- Explore Books
- Explore Scholarly Articles
- Narrowing a Topic
- Primary and Secondary Resources
- Academic, Popular & Trade Publications
- Scholarly and Peer-Reviewed Journals
- Grey Literature
- Clinical Trials
- Evidence Based Treatment
- Scholarly Research
- Database Research Log
- Search Limits
- Keyword Searching
- Boolean Operators
- Phrase Searching
- Truncation & Wildcard Symbols
- Proximity Searching
- Field Codes
- Subject Terms and Database Thesauri
- Reading a Scientific Article
- Website Evaluation
- Article Keywords and Subject Terms
- Cited References
- Citing Articles
- Related Results
- Search Within Publication
- Database Alerts & RSS Feeds
- Personal Database Accounts
- Persistent URLs
- Literature Gap and Future Research
- Web of Knowledge
- Annual Reviews
- Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
- Finding Seminal Works
- Exhausting the Literature
- Finding Dissertations
- Researching Theoretical Frameworks
- Research Methods & Design
- Tests and Measurements
- Organizing Research & Citations
- Scholarly Publication
- Learn the Library
Resources for a Literature Review or an Annotated Bibliography
Annotated bibliographies and literature reviews are very common forms of writing. The intent of each is to assist you, as the researcher, in gathering resources, identifying trends and problems in the research field, and analyzing those resources to assist your own research. This type of writing is also very helpful to the reader as it identifies key research articles and synthesizes the information to create a coherent picture in which the reader can place your research. Remember that you only want to include pivotal and influential research in this type of writing – this means you will want to focus on scholarly articles that contain primary research. Though literature reviews and annotated bibliographies accomplish a very similar purpose, they are not written in an identical manner.
According to the Purdue OWL website, an annotated bibliography is “a list of sources (books, journals, websites, periodicals, etc.) one has used for researching a topic. … Therefore an annotated bibliography includes a summary and/or evaluation of each of the sources.” An annotated bibliography is compiled of references and summaries in alphabetical order. For more information see the OWL at Purdue Annotated Bibliographies page. For information about how to find examples of annotated bibliographies, see the Library's Annotated Bibliographies FAQ .
A literature review, on the other hand, is “a summary of what the scientific literature says about your specific topic or question.” A literature review generally organizes references by subject matter, theory type, methodology design, etc. A literature review is generally much more exploratory than an annotated bibliography, and must pull together the information that is presented in many disparate sources to form one, cohesive picture of the research field. For more information see the OWL at Purdue Types of APA Papers page.
How do you go about getting the resources you need to write a literature review or an annotated bibliography? Library databases like EBSCOhost and ProQuest are a great place to start because they contain so many resources on so many different topics, but there are some additional databases that you may want to consider using for these types of assignments. These sub-pages identify resources and research techniques for your literature review.
- OWL at Purdue Annotated Bibliographies
- ASC Annotated Bibliographies FAQ
- OWL at Purdue Types of APA Papers
Additional Resources
For additional information about conducting literature reviews, please see the following resources from the NU Library:
- Aveyard, H. (2010). Doing a literature review in health and social care: A practical guide (2nd edition).Berkshire, GBR: Open University Press. Doing A Literature Review In Health And Social Care : A Practical Guide by Helen Aveyard
- Card, N. (2010). Literature review. In N. Salkind (Ed.), Encyclopedia of research design (pp.726-729). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.
- Chaffee, S., & Lieberma, D. (2001). The challenge of writing the literature review. In A. Alexander, & W. James Potter (Eds.), How to publish your communication research (pp. 23-47).Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.
- Ford, N. (2012). How to do a literature review. In The essential guide to using the web for research (pp. 53-81). London: SAGE Publications Ltd.
- Literature Review. (2004). In Donna M. Mertens, & John A. McLaughlin (Eds.), Research and evaluation methods in special education (pp. 35-50). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.
- Literature Reviews. (2001). In Bruce A. Thyer (Ed.), The handbook of social work research methods (pp. 400-413). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.
- Literature Reviews and Bibliographic Searches. (2006). In V. Desai, & R. Potter (Eds.), Doing development research (pp. 209-222). London, England: SAGEPublications, Ltd.
- Race, R. (2008). Literature review. In L. Given (Ed.), The SAGE encyclopedia of qualitative research methods (pp. 488-490). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.
- Thomas, D. R., & Hodges, I. D. (2010). Doing a literature review. In Designing and managing your research project: Core skills for social and health research (pp. 105-131). London: SAGE Publications Ltd.
- Writing a Literature Review. (2006). In N. Walliman (Ed.), Social research methods (pp. 182-186). London, England: SAGE Publications, Ltd.
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- Last Updated: Feb 27, 2023 9:52 AM
- URL: https://resources.nu.edu/researchprocess


POSC 325: Political Analysis: Home
- Research Question Development
- Literature Review Tips
- Article Searching
- Book Searching
- Citation Style
Using This Guide
Welcome to the POSC 325 Political Analysis course research guide . Use the tabs at the top of the page for accessing multiple types of resources relevant to quantitative research methods used in empirical political science research.
After using this guide, consider leaving us feedback on the form below to help us improve the content provided to students in the future.
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Writing a Literature Review
Literature reviews vs. annotated bibliographies, literature review overviews and examples.
- Citing sources and managing citations
Learn more about...
- Ask A Librarian Hours
- Schedule a Research Consultation
- Interlibrary Loan
- Off-Campus Access
- Borrowing Library Materials
- Citing Sources
- Avoiding Plagiarism
- Using RefWorks
Literature reviews typically include the following elements:
- Citations for the referenced materials
- A discussion of the materials' research purpose, methods, and findings
- A discussion of how those findings relate to your research
- A discussion of the differences between cited materials
- A discussion of the gaps created by the material referenced and how your research can close those gaps
Literature Reviews synthesize information available on a topic.
Annotated bibliography components:
- A citation for the information source
- A summary of the source
- A reflection on how you think you will use the source in your project
Annotated bibliographies look at individual sources.
Be sure to review your assignment prompt and/or speak to your professor.
- Annotated Bibliography and Literature Reviews (Stetson Writing Center) This Writing Center handout describes annotated bibliographies and literature reviews and how to write them.
- Literature Reviews (Writing Center, UNC Chapel Hill) Overview of lit reviews and tips on writing one.
- Writing a Literature Review (Dartmouth University Library) Overview of writing a literature review.
- Writing a Literature Review (Purdue OWL) Describes when and how to write a Lit Review along with ways to organize one.
- Next: Citing sources and managing citations >>
- Last Updated: Jan 25, 2023 1:27 PM
- URL: https://guides.stetson.edu/litreview
Have a question? Ask a librarian! Email [email protected] Call or text 386-747-9028.
Literature Reviews
- Defining Literature Reviews
- Choosing a Topic
- Developing Search Strategies
- Finding Sources
- Evaluating Sources
- Staying Organized
- Tracking Citations
- Writing the Literature Review

Introduction
This guide is designed to support graduate students at LSU with conducting a literature review.
Have you been tasked with writing a literature review? Whether you have a paper for a class, an article you want to publish, or a review for a thesis or dissertation, this guide will help you through the process. Follow the tabs on the navigation menu to take you through each step of your literature review.
Through this guide, you will learn:
- What a literature review is
- How to choose a researchable topic
- How to find example reviews to gain background knowledge or use as models for your own review
- How to craft and refine an effective search strategy
- What resources to use to find different kinds of literature
- How to access materials outside LSU Libraries
- How to evaluate the information you find within the context of your literature review
- Strategies for staying organized and taking notes
- Tips for managing your sources
- How to track citations and stay up-to-date on new publications
- How to organize your writing
- How to get further help with your literature review
If you have any questions, visit the Get Help tab.
- Next: Defining Literature Reviews >>
- Last Updated: Feb 1, 2023 8:10 AM
- URL: https://guides.lib.lsu.edu/litreviews
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The Sheridan Libraries
- Write a Literature Review
- Sheridan Libraries

Not every source you found should be included in your annotated bibliography or lit review. Only include the most relevant and most important sources.
Get Organized
- Lit Review Prep Use this template to help you evaluate your sources, create article summaries for an annotated bibliography, and a synthesis matrix for your lit review outline.
Summarize your Sources
Summarize each source: Determine the most important and relevant information from each source, such as the findings, methodology, theories, etc. Consider using an article summary, or study summary to help you organize and summarize your sources.
Paraphrasing
- Use your own words, and do not copy and paste the abstract
- The library's tutorials about plagiarism are excellent, and will help you with paraphasing correctly
Annotated Bibliographies
Annotated bibliographies can help you clearly see and understand the research before diving into organizing and writing your literature review. Although typically part of the "summarize" step of the literature review, annotations should not merely be summaries of each article - instead, they should be critical evaluations of the source, and help determine a source's usefulness for your lit review.
Definition:
A list of citations on a particular topic followed by an evaluation of the source’s argument and other relevant material including its intended audience, sources of evidence, and methodology
- Explore your topic.
- Appraise issues or factors associated with your professional practice and research topic.
- Help you get started with the literature review.
- Think critically about your topic, and the literature.
Steps to Creating an Annotated Bibliography:
- Find Your Sources
- Read Your Sources
- Identify the Most Relevant Sources
- Cite your Sources
- Write Annotations
Annotated Bibliography Resources
- Purdue Owl Guide
- Cornell Annotated Bibliography Guide
- << Previous: Evaluate
- Next: Synthesize >>
- Last Updated: Feb 3, 2023 12:47 PM
- URL: https://guides.library.jhu.edu/lit-review

Basics of Social Research
Literature reviews.
- Starting Offline...
- Searching for Scholarly Journal Articles
- Searching for Books
- Annotated Bibliographies and Citations
- Library Support

Literature reviews are designed to do two things:
- give your readers an overview of sources you have explored while researching a particular topic or idea, and
- demonstrate how your research fits into the larger field of study. (from Purdue OWL )
Learn more about literature reviews with these links:
- Literature Reviews - Purdue OWL General guidance for writing literature reviews. Created by the Purdue Online Writing Lab.
- Social Work Literature Review Guidelines - Purdue OWL Literature review help from the Purdue Online Writing Lab. Based on social work research, but useful for all social sciences.
- What is a Literature Review - Royal Literary Fund Describing the literature review in two different ways. From the Royal Literary Fund of London.
Need more help?
Unsure about what you're reading here? Visit our Need Help - Ask Us page and connect with one of our librarians who can help you understand.
- Next: Starting Offline... >>
- Last Updated: Jan 20, 2023 12:15 PM
- URL: https://libguides.bluffton.edu/soc360

IMAGES
VIDEO
COMMENTS
Purdue OWL Research and Citation Conducting Research Writing a Literature Review Conducting Research Research Overview Research: Where to Begin Types of Sources Primary Research Synthesizing Sources Conducting Primary Research What is Primary Research and How do I get Started? Ethical Considerations in Primary Research
Literature reviews are designed to do two things: 1) give your readers an overview of sources you have explored while researching a particular topic or idea and 2) demonstrate how your research fits into the larger field of study, in this case, social work.
A literature review is generally much more exploratory than an annotated bibliography, and must pull together the information that is presented in many disparate sources to form one, cohesive picture of the research field. For more information see the OWL at Purdue Types of APA Papers page.
The literature review is meant to serve as preliminary research, conducted before you write a research paper. You conduct this review of the literature after you develop a topic that interests you, and before you solidify your position. It is both a summary and a general timeline of research done on the subject you're about to discuss in detail.
The Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue University houses writing resources and instructional material, and we provide these as a free service of the Writing Lab at Purdue. Students, members of the community, and users worldwide will find information to assist with many writing projects.
Literature reviews typically include the following elements: Citations for the referenced materials. A discussion of the materials' research purpose, methods, and findings. A discussion of how those findings relate to your research. A discussion of the differences between cited materials.
The Online Writing Lab (OWL) has APA format information, both for document formatting and reference formatting. http://owl.english.purdue.edu The Writing Lab is located in Heavilon Hall, Room 226 and is available for one-on-one 30 minute consultations with tutors. The Writing Lab works with graduate and undergraduate students.
For more suggestions on how to write a literature review, visit the Purdue OWL Literature Reviews page. Meeting Your Writing Goals Set writing goals to keep you on track. Small, specific, and frequent goals are often the most realistic and encourage continued progress. Some examples of goals include: Writing at least 100 words
Although typically part of the "summarize" step of the literature review, annotations should not merely be summaries of each article - instead, they should be critical evaluations of the source, and help determine a source's usefulness for your lit review. ... Purdue Owl Guide. Cornell Annotated Bibliography Guide << Previous: Evaluate; Next ...
Literature Reviews. give your readers an overview of sources you have explored while researching a particular topic or idea, and. demonstrate how your research fits into the larger field of study. (from Purdue OWL) General guidance for writing literature reviews. Created by the Purdue Online Writing Lab. Literature review help from the …