Religious Studies at the University of Kent

    MA in the study of mysticism and religious experience

    TH860 Research and Computing Skills


    For this module students prepare either an annotated bibliography (or, if preferred, a literature review) on a selected topic relating to their work for the MA. The length of the bibliography should normally be somewhere between 15-20 sides of A4. Two identical copies should be submitted. Those with the relevant skills (or who wish to develop the relevant skills) may present this (on disk) in the form of a set of web pages. The notes that follow deal only with the annotated bibliography, not with the literature review (which is closer to the form of an ordinary essay).

    Purpose of exercise

    • to define, introduce and illustrate a coherent subject area
    • to assemble a representative range of relevant documents within that area
    • to assess the nature and scholarly usefulness of these documents
    • to arrange these documents into a coherent sequence
    • to identify each document using a recognized bibliographic style
    • to comment critically where appropriate
    • to present the results using the highest standards realizable through word-processing

    Choice of subject area

    Choose a topic well defined (or easily definable) within the scholarly literature

    Neither too broad (e.g. Hindu spirituality), nor too specific (e.g. Hindu yantras)

    The topic could be defined in a number of different ways, i.e. in terms of:

    theme (e.g. divination in Hinduism), text (e.g. Bhagavad Gita), person (e.g. Gandhi), etc.

    The bibliography is intended to be representative rather than exhaustive

    An example of a possible framework

    • General introduction to subject
    • General comments on resources available
    • Index or summary of sources gathered
    • Sectionalized annotated bibliography (think carefully about the order and the balance of materials)

    Types of material to be included

    • Books, articles in edited collections, article in learned journals, dissertations -- these should be given priority.
    • In the case of books, you may choose to have separate sections for primary and secondary sources.
    • Other kinds of printed sources include encyclopaedias, bibliographies, reviews, newspapers, etc.
    • Web sites and on-line documents should be grouped together in their own section.
    • Non-print media (CDs, films, radio programmes, etc) should come in one or more sections at the end.

    Examples of inferior material could be included for illustrative purposes if properly identified as such.

    Organizing the material

    • The best organization of material is likely to depend partly on the nature of the topic chosen.
    • The main headings could be types of documents (books, articles, etc), or historical periods (18th century, 19th century, etc.), or themes (e.g. Gandhi: biographies; Gandhi and Hinduism; etc.).
    • Within each sub-section, sequences of documents should be listed alphabetically by author.
    • As a general rule it is best not to mix too many different types of document within the same sequence.
    • Within sequences of books, you may choose to have separate sub-sections for primary and secondary sources.
    • A numbering system for sections and sub-sections, and even for individual items within sections, can be useful for the purposes of cross-referencing.
    • Decide on a bibliographic reference style before you start assembling your material.
    • Have a look at how bibliographies are organized in serious scholarly works. Steal from the best!

    Aims and learning outcomes of annotated bibliography exercise

    Resources about creating annotated bibliographies

    Examples of annotated bibliographies and literature reviews (miscellaneous themes)


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