Literature Reviews, APA Style & Annotated Bibliographies

Martha StephensonUW-Whitewater

Literature Review

The purpose is to critically analyze a segment of a published body of knowledge.

Provides a summary of previous research on a topic.

Discusses published information relevant to a particular subject area, issue, or theory, sometimes within a certain time period.

A self-contained unit or a preface to and rationale for engaging in research. It is a required part of grant and research proposals and often a chapter in theses and dissertations.

Where to Find Works

Catalogs Indexes and databases Internet Reference lists and bibliographies

How to Find Works

Original searches Look up citations from reference lists or

bibliographies Follow citations in times cited/cited by

or references listed in databases (ex. Google Scholar, Science Citation Index, ScienceDirect, Sociological Abstracts, etc.)

Write the Literature Review

Introduction› Identify the topic.› Point out trends, gaps, or conflicts.› Establish your reason for the literature review.› Explain the criteria used, the organization of the review, and the

scope. Body

› Group literature according to commonalities such as quantitative v. qualitative, conclusions, purpose, chronology, etc.

› Summarize each work according to its importance in the literature. Conclusion

› Summarize major contributions.› Point out major gaps in research, inconsistencies in theory and

findings, and issues pertinent to future study.› Provide insight into the relationship between the review topic and a

larger area of study.

Read More About Lit Reviews

Review of Literature - The Writing Center, UW-Madison http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/ReviewofLiterature.html

How to Do a Literature Review? –F.D. Bluford Library, NC A&T State University http://www.library.ncat.edu/ref/guides/literaturereview03.htm

Information Fluency & Quantitative Analysis: Literature Review - Washington & Lee University http://info.wlu.edu/literature_review/literature_review.html

Write a Literature Review –University Library, UC Santa Cruz http://library.ucsc.edu/ref/howto/literaturereview.html

Flow Diagram of Research Process

APA Style References

A reference list/bibliography documents research and provides the data necessary to identify and retrieve each source.

Enables retrieving and using sources, so the data must be correct and complete.

Accurate references help establish your credibility. Each entry contains elements required for unique

identification. When in doubt, provide more information

rather than less. Punctuation and element order are vital parts of

consistency.

At a minimum, include:› Author› Title› Date› Publication Information

To cite a source that is not included in the Library’s Citing References: APA Style guide, refer to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association 6th ed.

If there is no specific citation guidance in the Manual either, choose the most similar example and follow that format. Add any additional information necessary to identify your source.

References List

Double space citations. Use a .5” hanging indent. List citations in alphabetical order. List works by the same author in chronological

order. List works by the same author in one year

alphabetically and append letters to the years as in the parenthetical citation.

Do not include retrieval dates unless the source material may change over time, such as in a wiki.

JOURNAL ARTICLE: two to seven authors; no DOI assigned, paginated by issue, print

Light, M. A., & Light, I. H. (2008). The geographic expansion of

Mexican immigration in the United States and its implications

for local law enforcement. Law Enforcement Executive Forum

Journal, 8(1), 73-82.

Author Last Name, First Initial. Middle Initial. & Author Last Name,

First Initial. Middle initial. (Publication year). Article title. Journal

Title, volume number(issue number), first page-last page.

Journal Article from a Library Database-What’s wrong?

Moon, T. R., & Brighton, C. M. (2008). Primary Teachers' Conceptions of

Giftedness. Journal For The Education Of The Gifted, 31(4), 447-480.

Moon, T. R., & Brighton, C. M. (2008). Primary teachers'

conceptions of giftedness. Journal for the Education of the

Gifted, 31(4), 447-480. Retrieved from

http://journals.prufrock.com/IJP/b/journal-for-the-education-

of-the-gifted

What’s wrong?

Swaray, R. (2011). Commodity buffer stock redux: The role of International Cocoa Organization in prices and incomes. Journal Of Policy Modeling, 33(3), 361-369. DOI:10.1016/j.jpolmod.2011.03.002

Swaray, R. (2011). Commodity buffer stock redux: The role of

International Cocoa Organization in prices and incomes.

Journal of Policy Modeling, 33(3), 361-369.

doi:10.1016/j.jpolmod.2011.03.002

What’s Wrong?

MCCLUSKEY, EMILY. (2010). Chocolate with a conscience. Choice (0009-496X), 14-16. Web. 6/1/2012.

McCluskey, E. (2010 Dec). Chocolate with a conscience.

Choice, 14-16.

Retrieved from http://www.choice.com.au/

What’s Wrong?

ERIK, E. (2007, August). H.I.V. Patients Anxious as Support Programs Cut Back. New York Times (0362-4331). p. 12. Retrieved from https://libproxy.uww.edu:9443/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/ login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=28215647&login.asp&site=ehost-live Erik, E. (2007, August 1). H.I.V. Patients Anxious as Support

Programs Cut

Back. New York Times. p. 12. Retrieved from

http://www.nytimes.com/

What’s Wrong?

Clemons, T. L., & National Research Center on the Gifted and, T. (2008). Underachieving Gifted Students: A Social Cognitive Model. National Research Center On The Gifted And Talented,Clemons, T. L., & National Research Center on the Gifted and

Talented.

(2008). Underachieving gifted students: A social cognitive

model.

Retrieved from ERIC database. (ED505382)

Parenthetical In-Text Citations

Include the author's surname, if not in the text, and the date.

Always give page numbers for quotations (section 6.03).

When paraphrasing, the Manual encourages inclusion of a page number (section 6.04).

(Chaitin, 2006, p. 112)

Creating a Parenthetical Citation

Sillick, T. J., & Schutte, N. S. (2006). Emotional intelligence and

self-esteem mediate between perceived early parental love

and adult happiness. E-Journal of Applied Psychology, 2(2),

38-48. Retrieved from

http://ojs.lib.swin.edu.au/index.php/ejap/article/view/71/100

 

(Sillick & Schutte, 2006, p. 40)

On Compiling an Annotated Bibliography

Be organized, consistent, accurate, thorough, and meticulous in your research.

Do not rely on just the resources available through the Andersen Library. Use Universal Borrowing (UB) and Interlibrary Loan (ILL).

To plan your research efficiently, you must establish the overall organization and content of each major section.

Three Ways of Organizing Entries:

1. Alphabetically by authora. Least used these days.

2. Chronologically by date of publicationa. Use when scholarship has developed in defined

states, orb. Use when scholarship generally does not focus on

particular works or topics.3. Topically by subject

a. Use when an author has written in several genres, or b. Use when scholarship generally focuses on individual

works or distinct issues and topics. c. Keep it simple, as elaborate breakdowns make it

difficult to use.

Three Major Tasks:

1. Examine thoroughly the primary worksa. Reread all the primary texts and the major studies. b. Compile a list of themes.

2. Decide what types of works you will includea. Comprehensiveness is possible only within defined limits.b. Start with a broad inclusion policy. Ex. books, journal articles,

mag-azine articles, dissertations, conference papers, webpages, etc.

c. In a comprehensive bibliography you should include all works that are wholly or substantially about the subject, even those that are decidedly wrongheaded, outrageous or superseded.

d. Don’t omit a work because you have been unable to examine it. Note your source for the entry and carefully distinguish whether you have been unable to examine, locate or verify the work.

3. Know your style manual

Three Major Tasks for Compiling Entries:

1. Identifying scholarly worksa. Maintain a record of resources you have searched. b. You may encounter a number of vague, ambiguous, or

uninformative titles of works that may discuss your topic…record and examine them.

2. Obtaining the worksa. Some articles, books and government documents will

be in our print or online library collections.b. Some will be found on the Internet.c. Others can be ordered using UB or ILL.

3. Writing the entriesa.Know your citation style.b.Establish your subject terms which is especially

important if you are doing a subject arrangement of entries.

What Kind of Annotations?Type

Paraphrase› Takes the point of view of the item it abstracts.› Following its sequence of ideas, it provides a miniaturized transcription.

Commentary› Speaks from its own, usually disinterested perspective about the

major concerns of the work cited and its approach to them.› May be a description of the author's argument; it is not necessary to

attempt a faithful reproduction. › You serve the researcher/reader as an expert indexer. › Is concerned with what it is about rather than in what it says.

Summary› Primarily redacts, edits or organizes in a coherent shorter form. › Purpose is to transcribe and reduce the scale. Needs verbal

compression but in comparison to commentary, summary is properly more spacious and leisured.

› The length of an abstract will bear some proportion to its original.

What Kind of Annotations?Type

Descriptive› Main purpose or idea of the work.› Contents of the work.› Author’s conclusions.› Intended audience.› Author’s research methods.› Special features of the work such as illustrations, maps, tables, etc.› No value judgments.

Critical› Author’s bias or tone.› Author’s qualifications for writing the work.› Accuracy of the information in the source.› Limitations or significant omissions.› Contribution to the literature of the subject.› Comparison with other works on the topic.› Value judgments.› Conclusions or recommendations.› Provide both a descriptive and critical evaluation of the source.

Descriptive Annotation

London, H. (1982). Five myths of the television age." Television

Quarterly 10(1), 81-89. Herbert London, the Dean of Journalism at New York University and author of several books and articles, explains how television contradicts five commonly believed ideas. He uses specific examples of events seen on television, such as the assassination of John Kennedy, to illustrate his points. His examples have been selected to contradict such truisms as: "seeing is believing"; "a picture is worth a thousand words"; and "satisfaction is its own reward." London uses logical arguments to support his ideas which are his personal opinion. He doesn't refer to any previous works on the topic. London's style and vocabulary would make the article of interest to any reader.

Critical Annotation

London, H. (1982). Five myths of the television age." Television Quarterly

10(1), 81-89. Herbert London, the Dean of Journalism at New York University and author of several books and articles, explains how television contradicts five commonly believed ideas. He uses specific examples of events seen on television, such as the assassination of John Kennedy, to illustrate his points. His examples have been selected to contradict such truisms as: "seeing is believing"; "a picture is worth a thousand words"; and "satisfaction is its own reward." London uses logical arguments to support his ideas which are his personal opinion. He doesn't refer to any previous works on the topic; however, for a different point of view, one should refer to Joseph Patterson's, "Television is Truth" (The Journal of Television 45 (6) November/December 1995: 120-135). London's style and vocabulary would make the article of interest to any reader. The article clearly illustrates London's points, but does not explore their implications, leaving the reader with many unanswered questions.

What Kind of Annotations?Approach or Degree of Evaluation

How overt will your evaluation be? Evaluate based on quality and significance

of a study, not your critical biases. Annotations that reflect prejudice against a

particular methodology, critical theory, or type of scholarship breed distrust in users.

What Kind of Annotations?Style

Tense› Historical present is most common.

Avoid passive voice Don’t overuse “discusses” (See handout)

Sentences› “Paraphrase” annotations should be composed

of complete sentences. › In “commentary” annotations, subjectless

sentences are acceptable. However, omitting articles, prepositions, etc. reduce the readability.

Final Comments:

It is important to be consistent (style, tense, voice, type of annotation, order, etc.).

Good annotations distill the essence of the work. Read the entire work, not just the start and finish. Immediately after reading a work compose an

entry and proofread it. Later, after composing several annotations, reread your work to check for consistency. When “done” reread and re-evaluate.

At the end, number your entries.

ReferencesAnnotated bibliographies. (2012). Retrieved from

http://libguides.library.umkc.edu/annotatedbibliography

Guidelines for preparing an annotated bibliography, (n. d.) Retrieved from

http://library.uwb.edu/ guides/annotations.html

Harner, James L. (2000). On compiling an annotated bibliography (2nd ed.). New York:

Modern Language Association of America.

How to write annotated bibliographies. (2009). Retrieved from

http://www.library.mun.ca/guides/howto/ annotated_bibl.php

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.).

(2010).Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Reed, Lois E. (n.d.). Performing a literature review. Retrieved from

http://www.iris.ethz.ch/msrl/education/ iris_studies/pdf/ literature_review.pdf