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In the field of literature, when writing research articles, preparing a research prospectus, or working on your dissertation, we do what is called critical bibliography. In the social sciences, the same process is called a literature review. Regardless of the name, the process is the same: you need to search for secondary sources (academic articles or books) that discuss the topic you are interested in, and then review them critically. The purpose of this review is multifold: to demonstrate your understanding of your topic, to identify gaps in the research, and to explain how your research topic can expand our current knowledge of it.

To learn more in detail, what you need to do to get started, the UCSB Library offers an Introduction to Literature Reviews and a research guide on the topic with useful information. We offer these workshops every quarter (when possible), so check out the link below to find out the next time it is offered. 

So what is an annotated bibliography? "... is a list of citations to books, articles, and documents. Each citation is followed by a brief (usually about 150 words) descriptive and evaluative paragraph, the annotation. The purpose of the annotation is to inform the reader of the relevance, accuracy, and quality of the sources cited.” Definition from Cornell University Library.

To write a good annotated bibliography you need to be:

• Concise: Get to the point of what the book/article is about, in a few words, summarize.
• Evaluative: Determine who is the author, what is his/her expertise in the topic, how reliable is the information
• Critical: Reflect on what is the strength and weaknesses of the work, what is missing, etc.
• Comparative: Describe how the book/article compares to other similar works

Useful site with tips on how to write an Annotated Bibliography:

The Research Prospectus is a planning document, usually use before writing your thesis or some seminar paper to complete a degree (e.g. Master's thesis or Plan B paper). It does include a working bibliography and small literature review. Below are some useful links on how to write a prospectus, best practices and examples.

What is a reflection essay? Also known as reflection paper or reaction paper, is a type of essay where you are asked to reflect and share your thoughts and reactions about something you read, e.g. an article, a poem, a short story, a book chapter, etc. It is not a research paper but it requires that you as a writer be critical, thoughtful, and balance when writing this type of paper.