The Annotated Bibliography

The Annotated Bibliography

“A bibliography in which each citation is followed by an annotation containing a brief descriptive and/or evaluative summary, synopsis, or abstract.”

– www.farmingdale.edu/library/gloss.html Good tool for quick summarization, assessment

– “Keeps you honest” Great way to share this stage of your progress

– See Erik Stemmerman’s site!– GEO 565

Annotated Bibliography vs. Lit Review

Annotated bibliography is basically a set of notes on each reference

Lit review flows in scientific/technical style

Lit review compares/contrasts/links various references and is far more analytical

Writing the Literature Review

Break the review into thematic sections

Prioritize the sections Maintain focus

– relate literature to your research hypotheses

Literature Review Style

Document every statement of fact Use scientific/technical style:

– use 3rd person– follow citation style of foremost journals and other

theses/dissertations– no jargon– smooth transition between sections

“Smith (1999) asserted that…” “Yosida (1961) found that…” “In early work, Conti (1953) suggested that…” “blah blah blah (e.g. Rangel, 1998; Mason,

2003)”