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Research Process

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.

Additional Resources

For additional information about conducting literature reviews, please see the following resources from the NU Library:

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POSC 325: Political Analysis: Home

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.

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Writing a Literature Review

Literature reviews vs. annotated bibliographies, literature review overviews and examples.

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Literature reviews typically include the following elements:

Literature Reviews synthesize information available on a topic.

Annotated bibliography components:

Annotated bibliographies look at individual sources.

Be sure to review your assignment prompt and/or speak to your professor.

Have a question? Ask a librarian! Email [email protected] Call or text 386-747-9028.

Literature Reviews

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:

If you have any questions, visit the Get Help tab.

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purdue owl literature review

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

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

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

Steps to Creating an Annotated Bibliography:

Annotated Bibliography Resources

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Basics of Social Research

Literature reviews.

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Literature reviews are designed to do two things:

Learn more about literature reviews with these links:

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.

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  1. Literature Review 2

  2. Proposal writing

  3. Literature Review Presentation

  4. Understanding the Scholarly Article (Part 1)

  5. Literature Review Session

  6. Literature Review

COMMENTS

  1. Writing a Literature Review

    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

  2. Social Work Literature Review Guidelines

    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.

  3. LibGuides: Research Process: Resources for a Literature Review

    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.

  4. LibGuides: POSC 325: Political Analysis: Literature Review Tips

    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.

  5. Purdue OWL // Purdue Writing Lab

    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.

  6. Writing Literature Reviews

    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.

  7. TECH 646: Analysis of Research in Industry and Technology

    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.

  8. Writing the Literature Review

    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

  9. Summarize

    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 ...

  10. LibGuides: Basics of Social Research: Literature Reviews

    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 …