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Education  as  an  Advanced  Field  of  Study,  Master  of  Education  Program,  Northeastern  University,  2014  

Annotating  a  Peer-­‐Reviewed  Research  Article    

1.  Read  the  article  and  take  notes    

Does  the  publication  meet  the  course  criteria  for  research?    In  other  words,  determine  if  the   author    

  o poses  a  question/concern,     o collects  data  designed  to  address  the  question,     o analyzes  and  interpret  that  data,  and     o uses  that  analysis  to  address  the  question/concern.  

  Is  the  publication  peer  reviewed?    How  do  you  know?    An  article  is  considered  to  be  "peer  

reviewed"  if  other  people  evaluate  it  before  it  is  published  and  make  recommendations  for  it   to  be  1)  rejected,  2)  accepted  with  revisions,  or  3)  published  as  is.  In  other  words,  the  work  is   vetted  and  publication  is  not  automatic.    The  reviewers  need  to  be  specialists  in  the  field  who   do  not  work  for  the  publication.  The  following  resource  from  CUNY  can  also  help  you  make   that  determination  -­‐  http://guides.lib.jjay.cuny.edu/content.php?pid=209679&sid=1746812  

  The  article  needs  to  meet  both  of  these  criteria  (research  AND  peer  reviewed).    If  it  does  not,  find   another  article.    If  the  article  meets  the  criteria,  continue  on  to  consider  the  following  questions   and  take  notes:  

  What  research  question  or  problem  was  the  study  intended  to  address?   How  was  the  research  set  up?    What  did  methods  did  they  use  (i.e.,  qualitative,  quantitative,  

mixed  methods)?    What  were  the  research  strategies  (e.g.,  survey,  test,  case  study,  interview,   observation)?    How  many  people  were  involved  (e.g.,  number  of  students  surveyed)?  

What  were  the  findings?    What  did  the  data  indicate?   How  do  the  authors  interpret  the  findings  (e.g.,  conclusions,  recommendations)?    

 

2.  Write  the  annotation     Begin  with  an  APA  format  citation.    After  the  citation,  write  3  paragraphs,  drawing  on  the  prompts   below.    Note  that  if  you  answered  each  and  every  question,  the  annotation  would  need  to  be  more   than  three  paragraphs  long!    Use  your  judgment  to  distill  and  synthesize  the  piece  into  a  concise,   substantive,  and  thoughtful  annotation  (aim  for  under  300  words).    

Paragraph  1  -­‐-­‐  Summary:  What  problem,  question,  or  concern  is  the  author  trying  to   address?    Is  there  an  explicit  hypothesis,  or  is  the  investigation  open-­‐ended?    Where  was  the   research  conducted?  How  was  the  research  set  up,  what  methods  did  they  use,  how  large   was  the  sample  (e.g.,  number  of  people  or  institutions  involved),  and  what  was  the  duration   of  the  research?    What  were  the  findings,  how  did  the  author  interpret  the  findings?    Were   there  specific  recommendations  for  practice  (e.g.,  improving  learning  and  teaching,   institutional  structure,  or  policies)?      

  Paragraph  2  -­‐-­‐  Assessment:  After  summarizing  a  source,  write  a  short  assessment  of  the  

positionality  and  validity  of  the  piece.  Who  is  the  author  and  how  might  her/his  background  

 

Education  as  an  Advanced  Field  of  Study,  Master  of  Education  Program,  Northeastern  University,  2014  

influence  her  perspective?    Where  is  he/she  positioned  in  the  field  (e.g.,  in  a  place  of  power   or  at  the  grassroots  level,  operating  in  direct  relationship  with  learners  or  in  the   administration)?  Why  do  you  think  the  topic  is  important  to  the  author?    What  are  the   author’s  motivations?  Does  the  author  have  sufficient  familiarity  with  the  topic  or  expertise   to  conduct  a  rigorous  and  valid  study?  Does  the  research  strategy  align  with  the  question  or   concern  that  is  being  investigated  (e.g.,  would  you  consider  the  measures  to  be  valid)?    Why?     What  is  the  author’s  argument?    How  do  the  ideas  connect?  How  does  the  author  use  data  to   construct  the  argument?      In  other  words,  what  is  the  positionality  of  the  piece?    

Paragraph  3  -­‐-­‐  Reflection:  Once  you've  summarized  and  assessed  a  source,  you  need  to  ask   how  it  fits  into  your  research.  To  what  extent  is  the  source  useful  to  you,  and  how  does  it   compare  with  other  sources  in  your  bibliography?  How  does  it  help  you  shape  your   understanding  of  the  issue  or  controversy?  Has  it  changed  how  you  think  about  your  topic?   Was  this  source  helpful?  How  might  you  draw  on  this  source  to  inform  or  improve  your   work?    To  support  your  advocacy  for  change  in  relationship  to  the  issue  (at  work,  within   your  institution,  within  your  community)?    

 

3.  Additional  Resources  and  Examples    

Annotated  Bibliographies.  (2010-­‐13).  retrieved  January  19,  2014,  from  University  of  North   Carolina,  Writing  Center  Web  Site:  http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/annotated-­‐ bibliographies       Annotated  Bibliographies.  (1995-­‐2014).  retrieved  January  19,  2014,  from  Purdue  University,   Online  Writing  Lab  Web  Site:  https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/614/1       The  following  tools  can  be  helpful  in  generating  accurate  APA  format  citations     Citation  Builder.  (2014).  retrieved  January  19,  2014,  from  North  Carolina  State  University,   Libraries  Web  Site:  http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/citationbuilder  (be  sure  to  check  the  APA   option  in  the  upper  right  hand  corner  when  using  the  tool.     Citation  Creation  Tool.  (2014).  retrieved  January  19,  2014,  from   http://www.citationcreation.com/apa/website.html       Son  of  Citation  Machine.  (2014).  retrieved  January  19,  2014,  from  http://citationmachine.net