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Environmental Design: EndNote/Annotated Bibliographies/Literature Review

Last Updated: Oct 14, 2025 2:42 PM

EndNote Basics

EndNote: a software tool for managing references. EndNote helps you organize bibliographic references to journal articles, book chapters, Web sites and other information sources. References can be downloaded from UB Libraries' databases directly into a personal EndNote database known as a Library in EndNote terminology. Bibliographies can be created and formatted in over a thousand standard style formats including APA, MLA, Chicago, Vancouver, and others.

EndNote Basics Guide: for training videos, adding references, working in word, and more.

When downloading EndNote from the Libraries' webpage, make sure you login and your name appears on the right side of the page. You can go to Everything, make sure you are signed in and then go to the EndNote page to download the software. 

Add annotated bibliography APA citations:
In EndNote – Tools – Output styles – Open style manager - select APA 7th Annotated. Close. In EndNote citation box, click on Edit and add abstract to Research Notes field.

Evaluating Sources

Questions to ask to determine the credibility of a source:

  • What are the authors credentials?
  • What is the purpose of the source?  Identify the specific question the research aims to answer. 
  • What is the scope? What is this article about, and how far does it go? What topics are included or excluded?
  • Who is the intended audience?
  • Who published the source?

Pay attention to biases:

  • Check to see if a resource tells us up front that they have a particular mission or viewpoint.
  • Who funded the research - the funders might have a vested interest in the outcome of the research.
  • Who is missing from the research conversation?
  • Check methodology section to see who participated/who was excluded>

How to read a research article:

If asked to review an article, read over carefully:
1.Read critically - Did the author answer the research question? Was the problem solved? Are there any questions that arose from the reading that the author did not answer or solve? Was the data presented logically and understandably? Are there any omissions or limitations?

2. Read creatively - Were the ideas presented informative? If you were to continue the research, what other points would you address?

3. Take notes and underline key points made by the author.

After reading the article, can you summerize it succinctly? 
Write down the main idea and the supporting statements or subpoints of the main idea.

Scholarly (peer-reviewed) journal articles follow a structure and typically contain these features: 

  • Abstract: an overview of the entire article’s content. It gives a brief description of the problem or hypothesis, the participants, methodology, statistical analysis, results of study, and the implications of the study.
  • Introduction: Background to the research topic/problem and identifies research questions (purpose statement).
  • Methods: A detailed description on how the data was collected and what instruments/measurements were used.
  • Analysis: Explains how the data was analyzed.
  • Results: The findings or results of the research problem/study – usually in graphs or charts. Understanding the tables and charts in the results section is extremely important in understanding the article.
  • Discussion: The implications of the results, comparing results to other studies, hints to new research needed.
  • References: The cited articles used throughout the paper. Could also include a literature review or the literature review might be detailed in a section after the introduction.

Quick overview of an article: -Identity: Who, what, when, where?
Who is the intended audience? How were the research questions identified and answered? How new/old is the literature on the topic? Are there subtopics within the article?

Notes to take about the article: -Words or ideas that repeat themselves -Conflicts or contradictions in the information -How is the topic relevant to your research question?

Understanding the research process and the structure of a research article will help you to identify scholarly articles.

Scholarly/peer reviewed articles: 

  • A formal process in journal publishing  
  • A group of reviewers and editor evaluate the article for quality and accuracy.
  • What to look for: author affiliations, abstract, methodology, results, bibliography 

Trade Journals: fall between the category of magazines and journals, the focus is on industry, a product, or business. Written by experts in the field or a member of an society or organization. . Ex. GA Document, Architect, Landscape Architecture Magazine, Planning Magazine

News/Newspapers:
The main goal is to provide information to a broad audience.
- Authors are usually free lance writers or journalist, but at times can be scholars.
ex. Buffalo News

Citations for Interviews and Charts/Tables

Interviews:
"Interviews fall into three categories: published interviews, personal interviews, and research participant interviews. However, only published interviews require a formal citation in your reference list." Purdue Owl

" A personal interview is considered personal communication and does not require a formal citation in your reference list. Any communication that cannot be directly retrieved by a reader is considered “personal communication. You do not include personal communication in your reference list; instead, parenthetically cite the communicator's name, the phrase "personal communication," and the date of the communication in your main text only. As an in-text citation or footnote (chicago style).
(E. Robbins, personal communication, January 4, 2019).
If you reference personal communication in a footnote, as is common practice in certain fields and publications, you can document it in the same way. 1. P. Smith (personal communication, November 3, 2019) also claimed that many of her students had difficulties with APA style." Purdue Owl

Interviewee's First Name Last Name (identifying information if applicable), brief description of interview type to Interviewer First Name Last Name (or author), Interview Place, Interview Date.
Footnote:
24. Anastasia Morales, e-mail message to author, July 31, 2010.
 7. Andrew Macmillan (principal adviser, Investment Center Division, FAO), in discussion with the author, Seattle, Washington, September 1998.
(Camosun College)

Citing Tables and Figures

Informative information on Tables and Charts: Purdue Owl

APA sample figures:  Sample figures illustrate how to set up figures in APA Style. Note that any kind of visual display that is not a table is considered a figure.

PolicyMap:
APA Format: Title of map, dates. PolicyMap, permalink URL (based on data from ; date accessed).
Example: Availability of residential fiber to the end user (fiber optic) internet access in 2017. PolicyMap, https://plcy.mp/4NW2zSv (based on data from FCC Broadband Deployment Data; Accessed 29 September 2018).

Chicago Format: Title of map, dates. PolicyMap, permalink URL (based on data from ; date accessed).
Example: Availability of residential fiber to the end user (fiber optic) internet access in 2017. PolicyMap, https://plcy.mp/4NW2zSv (based on data from FCC Broadband Deployment Data; Accessed 29 September 2018).

Social Explorer:
APA:
Report: Data Table Name (Survey Year, Survey Name). In SocialExplorer.com. Retrieved from
Example: SE:T8. Age (Census 2010). In SocialExplorer.com. Retrieved July 25, 2018, from https://www.socialexplorer.com/tables/C2010/R11764616

Map: Title of Social Explorer Map [Map]. In SocialExplorer.com. (Survey Year, Survey Name) Retrieved from
Example: Population Density (Per Sq. Mile) [Map]. In SocialExplorer.com. ACS 2016 (5-Year Estimates) Retrieved July 25, 2018, from https://www.socialexplorer.com/8e62e93dee/view

Chicago Sytle: 
Report: Data source. Title of table, dates. Prepared by Social Explorer. permalink URL (date accessed).
Example: U.S. Census Bureau. Population Density, 1960. Prepared by Social Explorer. (accessed Jul 27 13:58:03 EST 2010).

Map: Title of map, dates. Social Explorer, permalink URL (based on data from ; date accessed).
Example: Population Density, 1960. Social Explorer, (based on data from U.S. Census Bureau; accessed Jul 27 17:16:03 EST 2010).

Creating a Bibliography

What is a bibliography?

  • A bibliography is a list of sources (books, articles, websites, reports, etc.) an author used and consulted in writing an article, research paper, or book. -essentially any type of academic work
  • It can be referred to as a works cited page or a reference list.
  • It is typically found at the end of a source.

Why do I need a bibliography?

  • If you use any source to make your 'arguement' or 'support' on your topic, even if you don't use direct quotes. You will still need to acknowledge where you found the information. 
  • It is a record of your research process.
  • It gives readers the opportunity to explore the sources you referenced in your research.

There are specific citation styles such as: MLA, APA, or Chicago, which dictate the order and presentation of the information. The order of the information is different in each of the citation style however, they all use the following details:

For books and/or journals:

  • Author name
  • Title of publication
  • Article title (if using a journal)
  • Date of publication
  • Place of publication
  • Publisher
  • Volume number of a journal, magazine or encyclopedia
  • Page number(s)

For websites:

  • Author and/or editor name
  • Title of the website
  • Company or organization that owns or posts to the website
  • URL (website address)
  • Date of access

Annotated Bibliography/Literature Review

Annotated Bibliography: an annotated bibliography is a list of citations to books, articles, and documents. Each citation is followed by a brief (usually about 150 words) descriptive and evaluative paragraph, the annotation. The purpose of the annotation is to inform the reader of the relevance, accuracy, and quality of the sources cited.

What does an annotated bibliography do? 
A good annotated bibliography:

  • encourages you to think critically about the content of the works you are using, their place within a field of study, and their relation to your own research and ideas.
  •  proves you have read and understand your sources. establishes your work as a valid source and you as a competent researcher.
  • situates your study and topic in a continuing professional conversation. provides a way for others to decide whether a source will be helpful to their research if they read it.
  • could help interested researchers determine whether they are interested in a topic by providing background information and an idea of the kind of work going on in a field.

What an annotation should include:

  • Complete bibliographic information.
  • Some or all of the following: Information to explain the authority and/or qualifications of the author. For example: Dr. William Smith, a history professor at XYZ University, based his book on twenty years of research.
  • Scope and main purpose of the work. Any biases that you detect. Intended audience and level of reading difficulty.
  • Evaluation or why you feel this work is suitable for your topic

Literature Review: it is a product and a process.

As a product, it is a carefully written examination, interpretation, evaluation, and synthesis of the publisher literature related to your topic. It focuses on what is known about your topic and what methodologies, models, theories, and concepts have been applied to it by others.

The process is what is involved in conducting a review of the literature. 

  • It is ongoing
  • It is iterative (repetitive)
  • It involves searching for and finding relevant literature.
  • It includes keeping track of your references and preparing and formatting them for the bibliography of your thesis.