A good literature evaluation will demonstrate your knowledge of the academic conversation surrounding a topic. Annotated bibliographies are usually
prepared in advance of a research paper. However, many researchers compose annotations anytime they read an article to record summaries and responses
about what they have read. You will probably spend more time researching and reading your annotated bibliography than writing it, since the written portion
is brief.
A minimum of five scholarly sources (not the same ones you used in the Background Essay) are required for this essay. These can be either academic peerreviewed journal articles from a database such as Academic Search Premier or a chapter from a scholarly book.
The purpose of a literature evaluation is fourfold:
The first is to summarize and assess the state of existing knowledge on your narrowed topic. What knowledge exists and is generally accepted with regard to
your topic? Are there important differences or disagreements among scholars? Are there significant problems or limitations with any of the research studies?
Which research methods were employed in the various research studies, which were not, and with what consequences? What questions remain unanswered?
What aspects or approaches seem relatively unexplored?
Through the process of reviewing existing knowledge you will also develop a more nuanced understanding of your topic, the second reason for conducting a
literature evaluation.
This new understanding leads to the third reason, to raise questions for further research. In other words, what are you left wondering? What questions or
aspects of the issue do you find have been unanswered, underexplored or overlooked? How would our understanding be improved by pursuing those
questions or angles? At the end of this process, you will hopefully find that you can identify several potential research questions.
The final purpose of the literature evaluation, based on the sources that have been assessed and the new questions that have been raised, is to identify one
specific and significant research question. This research question will drive your research from this point forward as you build towards the Final Research
Article, in which you present an argument that attempts to answer your own research question.
Required Elements of the Literature Evaluation
Preface
Your Literature Evaluation will include a preface at the beginning that includes your research question and an overview of the current knowledge about the
subject. The preface will introduce the
reader briefly to the sources and describe their scope and place in the current academic conversation, which is different than the popular conversation you
looked at in the Background Essay.
Citation for each source
Each entry will include a bibliographic citation in APA format. Follow citation guidelines to create a citation as you would for a references or works cited
page.
Evaluative Annotation
Includes a summary as well as an evaluation of points like the rhetorical context, the author’s credibility, the quality of the evidence, the source’s place in the
academic conversation, and the value of the source to the current project. The example below is an evaluative annotation.
Conclusion: Proposed Research Question and Significance (include section heading): The conclusion synthesizes the knowledge confirmed your citations
and annotations, while identifying areas for further research. After reviewing the literature, what do we know? What don’t we know? There should be an
apparent connection between the new areas of inquiry and the summary of existing knowledge. Bring your conclusion to a close by identifying and
discussing the significance of a specific research question that will drive the rest of your research project. Remember what you’ve learned about Research
Questions! (Links to an external site.)
Final Organization
For your final annotated bibliography, arrange your sources in alphabetical order by the authors’ last names. Include a header in the appropriate format.
Required Sources:
At least five scholarly articles (must be different from those you used in the BE). Use an electronic database such as Academic Search Premier (select “peerreviewed” from the search screens of these databases) or Google Scholar (scholar.google.com) or find a chapter in an edited scholarly book.
At least two of the sources must be no older than three years. The sources should be diverse; you should not have more than two (of the five) articles from
the same author or journal; if you do have more than two from the same author or journal, then you should have more than the minimum five sources. Ideally,
your collection of scholarly sources should include a variety of research methods as well.