ASSIGNMENT: Annotated Bibliography & Literature Review Objective: Through this assignment, you will

ASSIGNMENT:

Annotated Bibliography & Literature Review

Objective: Through this assignment, you will gain a deeper understanding of your leadership style and explore various leadership models. You will create an annotated bibliography that analyzes scholarly sources on leadership and reflects on their relevance to your own leadership approach. Then you will write a mini literature review about your leadership style.

An annotated bibliography is an alphabetical list of sources—formatted like a bibliography or reference list—that includes a commentary on each source. This commentary is called an annotation (Monash University, 2020). Writing an annotated bibliography can be helpful preparation for an essay. Collecting sources for a reference list is useful, but when you have to evaluate each source and write annotations, you are forced to engage with the source more carefully. In other words, you will begin to read more critically instead of just collecting information (Purdue University, 2020). 

Part 1: Reflection of Self

Reflect: Before diving into the research, take some time to think about your own leadership style. Consider situations where you have taken a leadership role.

How would you describe your approach to leading others?

What are your strengths and weaknesses as a leader?

sELF-Assessment Assignment: You should utilize your sELF-Assessment assignment as a starting point for research.

Assignment 1: Annotated Bibliography

Topic Selection: Based on your self-assessment, identify a specific leadership style or model or a combination of styles and/or models that resonates with the behavior that you want to exemplify in your leadership. This could be a concept like transformative leadership, adaptive leadership, servant leadership, or a situational leadership approach.

Source Selection: Find a minimum of 5 scholarly sources on your chosen leadership styles or models. These sources can include academic journals, peer-reviewed articles, and books by reputable authors in the field of leadership studies.

Annotations: Create at least one annotation entry for each source (see sample below). Each annotation in an annotated bibliography has five key components:

Key Components of an Annotation

Citation reference

A short statement that explains the author’s viewpoint

A short summary of the methods/findings/arguments in the work

Consideration of the usefulness/limitations of leadership practice.

An evaluative comment on how this info might be incorporated into your own work.

Developing an Annotation

As you begin writing your annotation it can be helpful to respond to each of the five components in the table:

SAMPLE

Citation (APA 7)

Annotation

Battle, K. (2007). Child poverty: The evolution and impact of child benefits. In Covell, K., & Howe, R. B. (Eds), A question of commitment: Children’s rights in Canada (pp. 21-44). Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid Laurier University Press.

Ken Battle draws on his research as an extensively-published policy analyst, and a close study of some government documents, to explain child benefits in Canada.  He outlines some fundamental assumptions supporting the belief that all society members should contribute to the upbringing of children.  His comparison of Canadian child poverty rates to those in other countries provides a useful wake-up to anyone assuming Canadian society is doing a good job of protecting children from want.  He pays particular attention to the National Child Benefit (NCB), arguing that it did not deserve the criticism it received from politicians and journalists.  He outlines the NCB’s development, costs, and benefits, including its dollar contribution to a typical recipient’s income.  However, Battle relies too heavily on his own work; he is the sole or primary author of almost half the sources in his bibliography  However, Battle does offer a valuable source for this essay, because the chapter provides a concise overview of government-funded assistance currently available to parents. This offers context for analyzing the scope and financial reality of child poverty in Canada.

Assignment 2: Literature Review

In a separate document, write a short reflection paper that analyzes and synthesizes your annotated bibliography in light of your leadership.

Discuss the different leadership styles or models presented in your sources.

Explain how the information you gathered helped you understand your own leadership strengths and weaknesses.

Identify areas for further exploration based on the sources you reviewed.

Grading:

Quality of Annotations (20 points): Annotations are clear, concise, and insightful. They effectively summarize the source, analyze its relevance to leadership, and connect it to your desired leadership behavior.

Literature Review (35 points): Reflection paper demonstrates critical thinking and analysis of the research. It connects the various leadership models to your own leadership style or behavior and identifies areas for growth. Citations are formatted correctly according to APA 7 formatting.

Additional Tips:

Utilize library resources and online databases to find credible scholarly sources.

Consider the publication date of your sources. Aim for recent research within the past 10 years. Although you may need to look at seminal sources that are older than 10 years. Most resources should be within the past 10 years.

Do not be afraid to explore different leadership models even if they do not perfectly align with your initial self-assessment.

This assignment will allow you to explore leadership from an academic perspective and gain valuable insights into your own leadership potential.