Students are often required to work with pre-existing research or sources. This can be formalised into a specific assessment task.
A literature review, or annotated bibliography, is a list of academic sources combined with analysis, commentary and critique. It moves beyond summarising sources to investigation and analysis. Sources can be textual, or audio, visual and video materials.
This can be a stage of a research project (see Research activities), the precursor to another assessment format such as an essay, or a standalone assessment.
As the format is less familiar, and can have different approaches, the teacher should communicate expectations to the students and discuss with them. For example, should the bibliography show breadth of reading, or focus on one particular sub-field? It could also offer a specific argument, and/or evaluate the theoretical or empirical underpinnings of sources. Guidance on the range/number of sources is also useful.
- Gives good grounding in the topic/field.
- Can help students to connect a range of sources and see various perspectives.
- After marking, can be shared between peers as a resource.
- Focuses on developing the skill of finding and critically engaging with resources, outside the context of essay-writing.
- Supports student motivation and a more inclusive curriculum through the freedom of selecting materials.
- Artefacts created can be used as revision aids.
- Any unfamiliar assessment can be stressful for students, and impact attainment. You can help through several approaches: introducing teaching activities which use similar skills; sharing examples of the outputs (at different levels of achievement, and with some commentary on their strengths and weaknesses); writing clear criteria and discussing/using them with students.
- Summaries of sources already exist (including as academic paper abstracts), or can be AI generated (see below).
- Students may underestimate how long an annotated bibliography takes to create.
With appropriate marking criteria, literature reviews and annotated bibliographies can allow good candidates to produce work that will distinguish them through their selection of sources, the quality of their writing, and their analytical insights.
Teachers can also support students through giving them access to sources of information such as online databases, and guiding them to make use of subject librarians.
Summaries of sources already exist (including as academic paper abstracts); marking criteria should focus on higher levels of critique and analysis.
Generative AI could be used to create parts of this assessment output. Ensure students are aware of when Generative AI is permitted and useful, and when it cannot be used. You could help to ensure students are meeting the learning outcomes by:
- Guiding as to when and why the use of Generative AI is appropriate (e.g. potentially to generate reading lists, but not for summarising or analysis).
- Requiring a brief introduction that explains how/why students found and selected the sources, and a conclusion that pulls together the disparate voices.