Writing Homework Help

Literature Review- Annotated Bibliography

For your capstone paper you are to complete a review of scholarly and professional resources to inform your analysis, conclusion, and recommendations. The literature review will be submitted in the form of an annotated bibliography. A literature review requires you to research and read current academic and professional literature and sources (journal articles, books, professional websites and studies, etc.) in the field of public administration. Because of the practical nature of the capstone, professional resources are likely to be a significant part of your literature review.

Your annotated bibliography is to provide a survey of the scholarly and professional work that has been done about key concepts, frameworks, best practices, theories, or other information and data related to your selected topic or project. The most important aspect of reviewing scholarly and professional resources is to demonstrate that you have done your due diligence in researching and analyzing resources relevant for your study. Conducting a review of relevant scholarly and professional resources should help you to complete a high-quality and credible study. 

The purpose of the literature review for the annotated bibliography is NOT to show that you have read a lot of material. In fact, while you may end up exceeding the minimum required resources for your annotated bibliography, it will not enhance your grade. Instead, conducting a thorough literature review for your annotated bibliography should make it easier for you to complete your study or project and provide credibility to your analysis and recommendations. You likely will not end up citing all the sources from your annotated bibliography in your final paper (and likely WILL cite additional sources that were not in the annotated bibliography), but you should explain in your annotation how the resource is relevant or applicable for your problem or project.

Another key issue to consider when selecting a topic and formulating your research question is to consider the professional relevance and application. Choose a topic and question that will have you contributing to key issues or questions in the field. This will help you advance, and lead, in the field and will enhance your ability to advance in your profession.

Try to find a relatively recent article that sounds interesting to you and read it. The advantage of a newer article is you will find references to other studies and articles that will direct you to more literature to read! In summary, a detailed, broad, and thoughtful reading of the literature should go a long way toward crafting a good research question and how to answer it. It will also enable you to answer critical questions you are likely to get regarding your research such as: have you thought about applying this other theory from the literature, why did you measure your concept in this manner, why did you choose this method, have you read so and so’s seminal article on this topic, how does your research build upon and add value to the existing literature etc.?