Annotated bibliographies are helpful in organizing research that can lead to a full research
paper. I would like you to review 10 related articles and link them together with a brief overview.
The literature review should be related to infrastructure management and ideally a topic relevant
to any research you may be working on during your graduate studies. Choose a topic interesting
to you, make sure the 10 articles you choose are related to the goal you set for your annotation
paper, and do not include articles we cover in class.
In the first part of your annotation paper, I’d like you to write an introduction. It should
be about 1-2 pages long, and your first paragraph should speak to the goal of your annotation and
justify why this topic is important (with appropriate citations). Here, you can cite and use any
readings we have covered in class. The next paragraph elaborates on how this topic could be useful
for a larger research paper, mention any concepts that are relevant in your annotations, and explain
how these articles can help fill an existing research gap. The final paragraph clearly previews the
10 articles you review, how you organized them, and any overarching themes.
After your introduction, begin your annotations. These can be ½-1 page per article and
they should each be a stand-alone review. For example, you should be able to pull this article
review later and get a summary of the article, the methods used, the key findings, and any
limitations that are noteworthy. On the same page, in the last paragraph note how this article relates
to your overall topic. Your final pages are your references. Follow APA style for references and
be careful to include all your references
The bibliography should be coherent, well-organized, and polished. The assignment should be: a)
typed; b) double-spaced; c) have 1” margins and 12 point font; d) be free of grammar and spelling
errors, e) and include a typed title page that includes your name.
Defining & Narrowing Your Topic
You need to narrow your topic/goal of your annotation to find 10 coherent articles that all inform
a single topic. You will want to skim literature to be certain that what you plan to review will lead
to a potential contribution for a larger paper. A contribution consists of a study that generates new
knowledge but uses previous knowledge to guide the study. This is accomplished by reviewing
the current literature and identifying a “research gap” that your study plans to fill.
What Does it Contain?
Typically, annotated bibliographies contains summaries of research about a similar topic. When
you are doing academic research, you need to examine what other scholars have studied and use
this information to guide your study. You do not want to simply repeat prior research, but instead
you should extend that line of research and offer a unique contribution.
What does each summary need to contain?
1) An APA style reference
2) An article summary which answers the following questions: What were the research
objectives? Which of their findings relate to your topic and what do you learn from those
findings? What was the research design? If quantitative, what statistics were used? If
qualitative, how was the data analyzed?
