Assessment Methods with Case Studies

10. Annotated Bibliography

An annotated bibliography is a task in which students locate and summarise relevant literature on a specific topic, thereby developing their skills in searching, analysing, and concise academic writing.

Why use this format?
Students learn how to find scholarly sources, assess the quality of articles, understand arguments, and present them clearly in a concise form. It can function as an independent assignment or as preparation for a larger research project. 

Strategies:

• Provide students with a list of course-related topics so they may choose an area of interest.
  
• Invite a librarian to deliver a session on search strategies and citation practices.
  
• Ask students to first formulate a research question or thesis and then create the bibliography based on it.
  
• Before a larger assignment, students may share their bibliographies in an online space as a shared resource.

Example of use in higher education:

In the course Research Methodology, students work in pairs on the task “Create an annotated bibliography on the topic of ethical challenges in research involving artificial intelligence.” The assignment requires finding six scholarly articles published in the last five years in Scopus or Google Scholar (three selected by each student).
For each source, students jointly create an annotation (150–200 words) that includes: a summary of the research aim, methods, and main findings; an evaluation of the source’s credibility and relevance to their own work; and a shared reflection on how the article contributes to understanding the ethical aspects of research.

The pair submits the joint bibliography through a Moodle assignment and then compares their approaches with other pairs in a forum, highlighting similarities and differences in the criteria used to select sources.
Assessment includes the quality of analysis and reflection, critical thinking, consistency in citation (APA style), and balanced collaboration between partners, which is assessed through a brief joint reflection on the working process.