Literature Reviews and Annotated Bibliographies

Literature reviews are sometimes confused with annotated bibliographies, but while they share the purpose of surveying existing research, they differ significantly in format and structure. An annotated bibliography lists and briefly describes individual sources, one by one, whereas a literature review weaves sources together into a narrative that highlights themes, trends, and gaps in the research.

Annotated Bibliography:

So, what is an annotated bibliography? "... is a list of citations to books, articles, and documents. Each citation is followed by a brief (usually about 150 words) descriptive and evaluative paragraph, the annotation. The purpose of the annotation is to inform the reader of the relevance, accuracy, and quality of the sources cited.” Source: Cornell University Library

To write a good annotated bibliography, you need to be:

• Concise: Go to the point of what the book/article is about, in a few words, summarize.
• Evaluative: Determine the author's identity, their expertise in the topic, and the reliability of the information.
• Critical: Reflect on the strengths and weaknesses of the work, what is missing, etc.
• Comparative: how each piece review compares to other similar works

Useful site with tips on how to write an Annotated Bibliography:

• How to Prepare an Annotated Bibliography (Cornell University Libraries)
• Purdue OWL: Annotated Bibliographies
• How to write an Annotated Bibliography ( Skidmore College Library)