Capturing Sources

Consider the following when capturing sources:

1. Read the entirety of research articles you cite. This informs your project’s process, keywords, methods, analysis or just writing style!
2. Pay attention to what the study investigated, what the researchers found, and how their work informs yours.
3. Identify how the study is different from and similar to yours.
4. Create an annotated bibliography as you read the ones that pertain most to your study. This type of writing is helpful for both thinking through what an individual study says and how it can be related to the others you're reading. An annotated bibliography is different than a literature review section in an inquiry proposal or report, but created an annotated bibliography first can be a useful strategy for thinking about the individual studies first, before you bring them together in a literature review. (This resource from Purdue's OWL provides more insight into writing in this genre.)

Before I begin an annotated bibliography or writing up an actual literature review, I've often found that keeping a chart like the one below is helpful while I'm searching for and reading different studies. It helps me stay organized by keeping my notes all in one place to look back at later, and I find it helps keep me focused while I'm reading each piece.