The following activity is meant to assist learning the concepts of strategic search. It introduces the idea that sources contribute different perspectives to an argument and that scholarship is a conversation. It can be used for any discipline but is particularly well suited to introductory writing courses.

Introduces the ethical dimension of finding, using, and sharing images in the context of the undergraduate research assignment

Students are asked to reflect on their experience writing a required “literature review” for the course through a first-person “comic.” The visual narrative format allows students to come to terms with their own experience of what was hard, easy, or confusing about the literature review process and express it in a creative way.

What is it?

An annotation is a brief evaluative summary of a book, article, or other publication. A bibliography is a list of resources cited in a consistent style format (such as MLA). An annotated bibliography, then, is a list of cited sources with brief explanations centering around one topic or research question. The purpose is to help the reader of the bibliography understand the uses of each source and the relationships of one source to another.

Your Assignment:

The primary purpose of a literature review is to provide a rationale for your proposed research question(s). You need to locate your research question within the broader conversation of a particular discipline. A review of literature should present a synthesis of existing theory and research literature that argues for the usefulness of the research question.