Higher Education Policy & Student Affairs

Purpose of an annotated bibliography

• A way to evaluate sources & gather important details
• Identify themes
• Discover gaps
• Gain perspective
• Think critically about the source(s)

Purpose of a literature review

• Tells your reader you know the literature in this area: credibility
• Identify themes and relationships between studies
• Notice particular theories and ideas to establish similarities/differences
• Know the experts in your field
• Notice who's left out of the conversation

What do I mean?
Communities of scholars, researchers, or professionals engage in sustained discourse with new insights and discoveries occurring over time as a result of varied perspectives and interpretations.
Where do you fit into the conversation?
Developing familiarity with the sources of evidence, methods, and modes of discourse in the field enables you to discover gaps or area sfor further discussion and enter the conversation.

Be sure to keep track of your sources, how you intend to use them, and any themes/keywords/ideas you notice. You can use this tool to do just that!