comparing the annotated bibliography to the literature review

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Annotated Bibliography vs. Literature Review

What's the big deal.

There are fundamental differences between an annotated bibliography and a literature review that are crucial to completing the assignment correctly. The chart below is provides an overview of the biggest differences between the two types of assignments in a side-by-side comparison. However, if you need more specific information about either assignment, visit our Annotated Bibliography and/or Literature Review pages for more detailed information on how to complete them. 

Differences between an annotated bibliography and literature review

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Annotated Bibliography vs Literature Review

• By Prof M Lambert
• November 12, 2020

If you’re undertaking a research project or writing a thesis in the US, be it at undergraduate, postgraduate, or PhD level, you may be wondering what the difference between an annotated bibliography and a literature review is.

Both are important sections of a research paper and aim to give context to the sources cited around a particular research problem. A literature review places a stronger emphasis on the importance of the findings of a paper, whilst an annotated bibliography focuses on the quality, validity, and relevance of the source of information itself.

What is a Literature Review?

A literature review summarises the research findings of others in a specific topic (this can be from a range of publications including scholarly journal articles, textbooks, interviews, and magazines), critically appraises their work, and uses this information to develop the research project at hand. The purpose of this section is also to identify any gaps in knowledge that exist in the research topic and how your research project can help address them. The literature review also allows you to question the research carried out, for example: does one author’s argument conflict with another’s?, or are a particular author’s conclusions valid?

What is an Annotated Bibliography?

Firstly, a bibliography is the list of sources referred to in a body of work. You should be familiar with this for any essay you have written – think of the APA style references you normally include. This includes important information about the source such as the author name, document title, date of publication, and page number (if applicable). The exact information differs depending on the source type – for example, a scholarly journal article may require a DOI ( Digital Object Identifier ) to be included in the citation, whilst a website will require a URL. The bibliography has several uses, primarily it serves as a reference point for readers who wish to read further into the statements made in a body of work. It also allows readers to question statements and verify the information provided in the body of work.

An annotated bibliography is a list of sources used in your body of work, which includes a brief summary for each source. These summary annotations evaluate the sources of information with regards to their accuracy and quality and identify any potential reasons for bias. As with a standard bibliography, an annotated bibliography should present sources alphabetically in a list-style format. The source summaries are typically around 150 words, though this can vary depending on the nature of the source.

Annotated Bibliography vs Literature Review – What are the differences?

The literature review is presented in a more conversational tone (essay format), as it looks to relate the findings of the source to the research question under review. In comparison, the annotated bibliography is much more structured and factual. It may evaluate sources that only have an indirect relevance to the current project.

Another difference is the length. As mentioned earlier, the annotation summaries are around 150 words per source. The literature review, on the other hand, is typically somewhere between 6,000 – 12,000 words. This reinforces the fact that the annotated bibliography is a concise assessment of the source, whilst the literature review is a comprehensive appraisal of the current knowledge and contributions around a particular topic. For example, the annotated bibliography may comment on a research paper which conducted a similar study and note information such as the scale of the experiments, how they were conducted, and which parameters were controlled. In the literature review this same source of information may be discussed further: what were the limitations of this type of experiment, how does the methodology compare to other studies, do the findings support your argument, and was the scale big enough to draw valid conclusions.

Students preparing a dissertation or thesis should use their annotation summaries to help develop their literary review. This can be done by using the information provided in the bibliography as a reference point to help paint the bigger picture in the literature review.

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Annotated Bibliography: Annotated Bibliography vs. Literature Review

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Literature Review vs. Annotated Bibliography

The purpose of a literature review is to provide an overview of existing academic literature on a specific topic and an evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of the author’s arguments. You are summarizing what research is available on a certain topic and then drawing conclusions about the topic.

An annotated bibliography is a list of resources that you have gathered on a topic that includes an annotation following the reference.  Like a References list, annotated bibliographies gather all resources discovered in the research process in one document. Each citation in the bibliography is followed by an annotation, a summary of that source.

An annotated bibliography is different from a literature review because it serves a different purpose. Annotated bibliographies focus on sources gathered for a specific research project. A literature review attempts to take a comprehensive approach to evaluate all of the research available on a particular question or a topic to create the foundation for a research paper. This review is often incorporated at the beginning of a research paper in its own section but it may also form the thesis for the paper.

Or as the University of North Alabama puts it " An annotated bibliography examines each source based on its relationship to the topic; a literature review draws together multiple sources to examine where they agree or disagree ."

Comparison Chart

Literature Review Example

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Annotated bibliographies, writing the literature review, matrix for organizing sources for literature reviews / annotated bibliographies, sample literature reviews.

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A literature review is a synthesis of published information on a particular research topics. The purpose is to map out what is already known about a certain subject, outline methods previously used, prevent duplication of research, and, along these lines, reveal gaps in existing literature to justify the research project.

Unlike an annotated bibliography, a literature review is thus organized around ideas/concepts, not the individual sources themselves. Each of its paragraphs stakes out a position identifying related themes/issues, research design, and conclusions in existing literature.

An annotated bibliography  is a bibliography that gives a summary of each article or book. The purpose of annotations is to provide the reader with a summary and an evaluation of the source. Each summary should be a concise exposition of the source's central idea(s) and give the reader a general idea of the source's content.

The purpose of an annotated bibliography is to:

• review the literature of a particular subject;
• demonstrate the quality and depth of reading that you have done;
• exemplify the scope of sources available—such as journals, books, websites and magazine articles;
• highlight sources that may be of interest to other readers and researchers;
• explore and organize sources for further research.

Further Reading:

• Annotated Bibliographies (Purdue OWL)
• How to Prepare an Annotated Bibliography (Cornell University)

" Literature Reviews: An Overview for Graduate Students " 2009. NC State University Libraries

Review the following websites for tips on writing a literature review:

Literature Reviews. The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 

Write a Literature Review: Virginia Commonwealth University. 

• Matrix for Organizing Sources

Levac, J., Toal-Sullivan, D., & O`Sullivan, T. (2012). Household Emergency Preparedness: A Literature Review.  Journal Of Community Health ,  37 (3), 725-733. doi:10.1007/s10900-011-9488-x

Geale, S. K. (2012). The ethics of disaster management.  Disaster Prevention and Management,  21 (4), 445-462. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/09653561211256152

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Annotated Bibliographies and Literature Reviews

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Annotated bibliographies and literature reviews are both comprehensive collections of relevant sources, but that is where the similarity ends. Their purposes, structures and components are very different. 

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Comparing Annotated Bibliographies, Literature Reviews, and Research Papers

• What Are Literature Reviews?
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Annotated bibliographies and research papers are sometimes confused with literature reviews . Click the boxes below to review their key differences.

What is an annotated bibliography?

Annotated bibliographies provide summaries of individual sources under a full reference. At the end of the summary, writers also often comment on the source's potential value for their own future research paper. No thesis is required for this assignment.

What is a narrative literature review?

Narrative Literature Reviews offer an argument about the state and quality of existing research on a topic. By analyzing, evaluating, and synthesizing information, the writer will identify similarities, differences, trends, and gaps in the research. This type of paper is often used as background or context for a primary research paper. Thesis Example: While the quality of current scholarship is high, it does not adequately address the economic and historical contexts that inform disability stigma in Ghana.

What is an argumentative research paper?

Argumentative research papers present an original argument about a topic. The writer defends this argument with evidence from existing research and their own critical analysis. Thesis Example: To reduce disability stigma in Ghana, the government needs to fund inclusive education, revise workplace policies, and develop media campaigns.

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ENG 201: Research Introduction, Annotated Bibliography & Literature Review (PLV)

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Annotated Bibliographies & Literature Reviews

Writing an annotated bibliography, why do we write literature reviews, what are scholarly journals & peer review.

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How are annotated bibliographies and literature reviews related? 

Annotated bibliographies collect sources and present citations along with a summary and analysis that connects the information to your research question. In a literature review , the author synthesizes multiple sources together to present the major themes, arguments and theories around a topic. 

Therefore, an annotated bibliography can provide an opportunity to review and analyze individual sources before o rganizing them around common denominators found across sources. 

Creating an annotated bibliography: 

• Review your assignment to determine how your professor would like your annotated bibliography to look.
• Search ! The "Strategic Searching" and "Locating Sources Online & At Pace" pages on this guide for assistance in locating potential sources. 
• Create the citations for your sources. 
• Write a paragraph for each citation summarizing, analyzing and determining the relevance of that source to your paper.                                                                       Icon by freepik

Examples: 

• University of Wisconsin: Annotated Bibliographies Research Guide This Research Guide page walks through the step by step process of creating an annotated bibliography.
• Rasmussen College: Annotated Bibliography Research Guide Watch the video and see an example of an annotated bibliography.

Literature reviews serve a purpose in research by: 

• Showing the writer's understanding of their topic area including key concepts, terminology, theories and definitions
• Identifying what research has been done in that area
• Finding gaps in the research or current areas of interest to help the writer tweak their own research question, if needed
• Identifying main areas of agreement, disagreement or controversy within the topic area
• Convincing the reader that your research question is significant, important and interesting

You are writing a MAP to the scholarly conversation on your topic.

• Planning and Creating a Literature Review Video Tips for searching, analyzing, and organizing sources for your literature review.

For your Literature Review you will summarize, evaluate, and synthesize, existing scholarship related to your research question. This "scholarship" is found in academic, scholarly, peer-reviewed journals. These differ from magazines and articles written for the general public because scholarly journals are written for researchers and experts in the discipline area. 

Click the link below titled, "Anatomy of a Scholarly Journal Article" to view an  interactive journal article and review what each section means.

You may need a few peer reviewed sources for your literature review. But what does that mean?

Peer-reviewed and refereed publications  include articles that are read and approved by an editor and one or more experts in that field to confirm accuracy of information and the contribution of that information to the scholarly conversation. 

• Anatomy of a Scholarly Journal Article Click to explore what makes up a "scholarly journal article." From the North Carolina State University Library.
• How to Read a Scholarly Article A visual demonstration, from Western Libraries.
• Example of a Scholarly Article
• Example #2 of a Scholarly Journal
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Lit Review v. Annotated Bibliography

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Annotated bibliographies and literature reviews are both comprehensive collections of relevant sources, but that is where the similarity ends. Their purposes, structures and components are very different. 

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Annotated Bibliography vs. Literature Review

Sample literature review handouts.

• Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue University
• Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• Literature Reviews This guide from the librarians at the University of Pittsburgh offers information and suggestions on writing your own literature review.

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Annotated Bibliography: Annotated Bibliography vs. Literature Review

• Introduction
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Differences between Annotated Bibliographies and Literature Reviews

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EDL 7108 Action Research I: Literature Reviews and Annotated Bibliographies

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Literature Reviews: An Overview

Annotated Bibliography and Literature Review Information

• The Literature Review: A Few Tips On Conducting It Created by Written by Dena Taylor, Health Sciences Writing Centre, University of Toronto.
• Conducting Literature Reviews - University of North Carolina
• Creating Annotated Bibliographies - OWL at Purdue University
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• Annotated Bibliography Review Chapter 7 - Section 2>> Annotated Bibliographies.

The Literature Review

According to Hart (1998), “A literature review is an objective, thorough summary and critical analysis of the relevant available research and non-research literature on the topic being studied” (as cited in Cronin, Ryan & Coughlan 2008).

The Literature Review Process

• Selecting a review topic
• Searching the literature
• Gathering, reading and analyzing the literature
• Writing the review

Lit Review Process

Types of Literature Reviews

• Systematic literature review

Implemented in response to specific questions about clinical practice; designation of criteria for including/excluding literature is important part of this type of review.

Purpose : aims at producing an inclusive list of the entire literature on a topic; set apart the literature on a topic based on predefined criteria; assess and synthesize these sources

• Traditional or narrative review

Summarizes, synthesizes and discusses literature on chosen topic; selective with regard to sources included.

Purpose : to give a comprehensive overview of the literature in a chosen area; to identify gaps in existing research; to develop conceptual framework; to refine research topic/question

(Cronin et al. 2008, 38)

Questions your lit review should answer

• Why is this subject important?
• Who else thinks it is important?
• Who has worked on this subject before?
• Who has done something similar to what I am doing?
• What can be adapted to my own study?
• What are the gaps in the research?
• Who is going to use my material?
• What use will my project be?
• What will my contribution be?
• What specific question will I answer?
• What specific questions will my research not be able to address?

(Murray 2006:115)

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• How to Prepare an Annotated Bibliography
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Difference between Annotated Bibliography and Literature Review

Although both types of writing involve examining sources, a literature review attempts to correlate the information and draw connections between the sources.

Examples of Literature Reviews

• Student Example
• Journal Example

Citation Help

• MLA Center The Modern Language Association website can help you cite sources in MLA style.
• APA Style Blog The American Psychology Association can help you cite sources in APA style.
• Chicago Manual of Style Use this site to help you site sources in Chicago Manual of Style.
• Purdue's Online Writing Lab (OWL) Purdue's Online Language Writing Lab contains up-to-date information on MLA and APA styles.

What is a Literature Review?

Literature Review - from The Writing Center at UNC Chapel Hill

A literature review discusses published information in a particular subject area, and sometimes information in a particular subject area within a certain time period. It usually has an organizational pattern and combines both summary and synthesis. A summary is a recap of the important information of the source, but a synthesis is a re-organization, or a reshuffling, of that information. It might give a new interpretation of old material or combine new with old interpretations. Or it might trace the intellectual progression of the field, including major debates.

Organizing a Literature Review

There is not one "standard" for literature reviews but they should include the following:

• Introduction: Gives a quick idea of the topic of the literature review, such as the central theme or organizational pattern.
• Body: Contains your discussion of sources and is organized either chronologically, thematically, or methodologically (see below for more information on each).
• Conclusions/Recommendations: Discuss what you have drawn from reviewing literature so far. Where might the discussion proceed?

Organizing your literature review:

• Chronological: If your review follows the chronological method, you write about your materials according to when they were published. The oldest date is first and the most recent publication date is last.
• By publication: Order your sources by publication chronology, then, only if the order demonstrates a more important trend.
• By trend: A better way to organize sources chronologically is to examine the sources under another trend, such as the history of whaling. Then your review would have subsections according to eras within this period.
• Thematic: Thematic reviews of literature are organized around a topic or issue, rather than the progression of time. However, progression of time may still be an important factor in a thematic review. For instance, a thematic review of material on sperm whales might examine how they are portrayed as "evil" in cultural documents. The subsections might include how they are personified, how their proportions are exaggerated, and their behaviors misunderstood. A review organized in this manner would shift between time periods within each section according to the point made.
• Methodological: A methodological approach differs from the two above in that the focusing factor usually does not have to do with the content of the material. Instead, it focuses on the "methods" of the researcher or writer. A methodological scope will influence either the types of documents in the review or the way in which these documents are discussed.
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Things to remember.

Be Selective

Summarize and Synthesize

Keep Your Own Voice

Use Caution When Paraphrasing

Revise, Revise, Revise

Source: Literature Reviews - The Writing Center at UNC Chapel Hill

Things to Clarify

Items to clarify if not in assignment:

• How many sources should be included?
• What types of sources should be included? (scholarly articles, books, websites, etc.)
• Should information be reviewed by a common theme or issue?
• Should subheadings and background information be provided? (i.e. definitions and/or a history?)
• Should the review be in chronological or publication order?
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Annotated Bibliography

Include the following:

• What are the main topics and points?
• How would you explain the article to someone else?
• How does the article compare to your other articles?
• Do you perceive bias or is it objective?
• What is the goal of the article?
• Is this resource helpful to your research?
• How can you use the article in your paper?
• Has the article changed the way you think about your topic?
• Does this article provide similar ideas to the other article(s)?
• If so, does the information agree or disagree with the other article(s)?

What is a review of literature?

An integrated analysis that:

• What questions were addressed?
• What are the main conclusions (What does the study argue?)
• Where do the studies agree?
• What are the bases for disagreement?
• What theories/policies/evidence were looked at?
• Sound reasoning
• Careful assessment of evidence
• Well-executed methodology
• What is overall quality of the literature?
• What questions were neglected?
• What relevant information and alternative theories were not discussed?
• What problems require additional research?

Organizing a Review of Literature

• Define topic and establish reason for literature review
• Point out general trends about topic
• Explain criteria used in analyzing and comparing articles
• Thematic clusters (chronologically, thematically, or methodologically)
• Smooth, logical transition between clusters
• Emphasizes main findings or arguments of articles in student’s own words (very limited direct quotations from articles)
• Summarizes major themes and identifies areas of controversy
• Innovative methodology
• Gaps in research
• Concludes by forming questions that need further research
• Provides insight into relationship between that topic and larger field of study/discipline

Relational Words and Phrases That:

• Point out relationships between articles
• Define connections
• Explain how they come together to represent a body of knowledge

What a Review of Literature is NOT

• Just a summary
• Grouping of broad, unrelated sources
• Compilation of everything ever written on the topic
• A literary criticism

Types of Literature Reviews

• Course assignment (stand alone/selective)
• Review article (stand alone/comprehensive)
• Intro to journal (part of larger work/selective)
• Thesis/dissertation (part of larger work/comprehensive)
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Literature Review vs. Annotated Bibliography vs. Research Paper... What's the difference?

Literature Review

The purpose of a literature review is to provide an overview of existing academic literature on a specific topic and an evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of the author’s arguments. You are summarizing what research is available on a certain topic and then drawing conclusions about the topic. To make gathering your research easier, be sure to start with a narrow/specific topic and then widen your topic if necessary.

A literature review is helpful when determining what research has already been discovered through academic research and what further research still needs to be done. Are there gaps? Are there opportunities for further research? What is missing from my collection of resources? Are more resources needed?

It is important to note that the conclusions described in the literature you gather may contradict each other completely or in part.  A literature review gives the researcher an overview and understanding of research findings to date on a particular topic or issue.

Annotated Bibliography

An annotated bibliography is a list of resources that you have gathered on a topic that includes an annotation following the reference.  Like a References list, annotated bibliographies gather all resources discovered in the research process in one document. Each citation in the bibliography is followed by an annotation a 5-7 sentence paragraph consisting of a summary, an evaluation, and a reflection of that resource.

An annotated bibliography is different from a literature review because it serves a different purpose. Annotated bibliographies focus on sources gathered for a specific research project. A literature review attempts to take a comprehensive approach to evaluate all of the research available on a particular question or a topic to create the foundation for a research paper. 

For more information, please visit the annotated bibliography page of our APA guide.

Research Paper

A research paper presents a single argument/idea on a topic supported by research that you have gathered. Your own thoughts and opinions will be supported by research that you have gathered on your topic. The resources used in your research paper typically support the argument that you are making.

For more information on writing a research paper, check out our Writing guide .

Generally, either an annotated bibliography or a literature review are written first and set the framework for the final product: your research paper. 

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How to write a PhD in a hundred steps (or more)

A workingmumscholar's journey through her phd and beyond, annotated bibliography to literature review: a way in.

This post reflects on the affordances and challenges of creating an annotated bibliography as a way in to scoping your field, and drafting your literature review, whether for a paper or a postgraduate thesis.

I am working on a project with 3 colleagues at the moment, the first part of which is writing a literature review scoping the relevant parts of the field addressed in this study. It’s a significant amount of reading, and this literature is new to me, so the work was daunting at first. I felt a bit overwhelmed at the scale of the reading, note-making and writing I would have to do to actually create a relatively short, concise literature review. One of the co-investigators helpfully suggested that one of the outputs be an annotated bibliography , out of which we could craft the literature review. I must add here that I then had to google what this was, because I have never written one before, although the term is not new.

In essence, to create an annotated bibliography, you compile a list of relevant readings on the topic you are writing about, read these, and then create concise, focused summaries that evaluate the quality and accuracy of the source, and its relevance to the research you are doing (a useful example here ). Some guides say you should keep these to 150 words, others indicate that you can go up to about 300 or so words. The main point seems to be to go beyond a simple, descriptive summary of the article, to be critical of the source, and its relevance to your proposed research. It’s useful here to remember that critique is not criticism ; it is rather about inserting your researcher voice and position in relation to the text, and commenting from that position.

This all sounds rather simple, in theory. I am finding it a little harder in practice. This is partly because the summaries I tend to write in my reading journals  tend towards the descriptive, and only become critical when I evaluate their relevance and connection to my research. I don’t actually think all that critically about the quality or accuracy of the source, or the authority of the authors, unless this is obviously suspect (for example, a low-impact study that tries to be more, or data that is not clearly described or is atheoretically analysed). These papers, unless that really say something helpful, are usually left out of my eventual literature review.

In the annotated bibliography, you are creating sharp, focused annotations or commentaries (rather than summaries) that point to the type of study (qualitative/quantitative; larger/smaller scale; single/multi-context and so on); the theory or methodology perhaps (as this influences relevance and also accuracy or quality); how (and how clearly or effectively) the argument is made; and how/why the article is relevant to the research you are doing. As you start to grow your bibliography, you can add a comment about how the study connects with, extends or contradicts other studies you have included thus far.

My research is at play here, of course, as it is guiding the selection of sources, and what I am looking for in the reading I am doing. However, I am finding that my argument is rather fuzzier than it could be at this stage; the reading is guided by a general sense of what I am trying to find out about, but my actual argument is not yet formed. I am finding this tricky, as I am working with literature that is new to me. I don’t necessarily know who the ‘names’ are , or what the influential studies are. I’m starting to work this out as the same studies and names are cited over and over in the papers I am reading, but I’m still getting the ‘lie of the land’. But, while I may not yet have my firm argument, I am able to see it emerging from the mists because I know the basic problem or question I am trying to answer.

Holding onto a basic, albeit fuzzy, sense of why I am doing all of this and what I am looking for enables me to manage the annotation process more effectively.  I can trim out readings that are irrelevant, too old, or otherwise unfit for this purpose, and add in new readings that are useful and on point. I can keep the annotations clear, concise and focused on the research problem. I can start to make connections between studies, seeing how the authors are talking to one another, and creating a conversation in which there are both agreements and disagreements. This all takes me closer to my literature review, which is where I will make and defend an argument of sorts in response to my research question.

In the literature review I will be doing far more than copying and pasting from my summaries: I will be drawing out key themes in relation to my research problem/question, and elaborating on these using the annotations I have created, but rewriting and connecting these into a framework that illuminates: what the research problem is; why this problem needs to be addressed in our context; how it has been addressed in other contexts; and where the gap is that this project seeks to fill, i.e. the contribution or argument advanced in this research. This will then set us up for creating a suitable methodological plan for going about evidencing or supporting our argument.

I have, as I said, never done an exercise like this before. But, I am really enjoying the intellectual challenge of creating the annotations – it has taken me a while to work this out and the word limit is tough! I am excited at how ‘organically’ the debates, conversations and connections between the different contexts and studies within the readings are emerging, like a puzzle slowly forming out of a mess of pieces. Putting it all into one document – one long bibliography – may seem unwieldy, but this enables me to search for key terms, and to pull threads together in the literature review that is not starting to take shape. It’s making my literature review work less overwhelming, because the annotations are written in my own words, contain my research position, and are critical rather than descriptive, so I am well on my way to creating a literature review that comments on , rather than summarises, the relevant body of literature, and does so in relation to my research problem.

Given how stressful literature reviews are for so many postgraduate writers, and how many are critiqued for being too descriptive and not critical enough, this ‘tool’ could be a useful, practical and manageable way in to your field, and to finding your researcher voice and position.

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[…] reality is that you have to spend about a year reading, writing reading journal or annotated bibliography entries, making connections, taking a few wrong turns and doubling back, and talking a lot with […]

[…] have written here and here and here about literature reviews, and Pat Thomson and Inger Mewburn have some useful posts that you […]

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