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Guidelines and expectations

 Overall word limit: 1,500 words (not including the citations themselves but including
sub-headings such as ‘methods’)

The annotated bibliography should include 10 texts highly relevant to your topic - e.g.
prevalence, burden, and treatment gap of mental, neurological and substance abuse
conditions, human rights and other legal issues, responding to the mental health
consequences of natural disasters and political violence. Together, the texts should
demonstrate that you have gathered the best available evidence on the following:

 The scale of the issue in your country (or region within a country) of interest, (eg
prevalence, burden and treatment gap for a particular disorder; legal issues; scale of
natural disasters, etc.)
 The importance of the issue in your country (or region within a country) of interest, (eg
relevance to other national or international priorities, such as economic growth,
mortality, global health and development agendas, etc.)
 How to address the issue in your country (or region within a country) of interest, (e.g.,
evidence-based interventions, programmes and/or policies)

You do not need to include more than 10 citations. If you provide more than 10 citations,
you will be marked only on the first 10. Please ensure that, across your 10 selected citations,
you adequately attend to each of the three points listed above. Students are advised to
allocate their citations somewhat evenly across each of these three domains.

What should my annotated bibliography contain?

You will write the full reference (using Harvard or Vancouver style) and follow it with a concise
paragraph (5-6 sentences), covering the following:

 Identify the study design and research methods employed

 Summarise the key results and conclusions of the authors
 State the strengths and limitations/quality of the study
 Briefly reflect on and discuss the relevance of this study to the policy report you will be writing

We have provided an example below. Please follow this format when writing up your annotated
bibliography, with the methods, findings, strengths & weaknesses, and relevance to policy clearly
sign-posted.
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Annotated bibliography example: Addressing the burden of common mental disorders in Nigeria

Reference:
Gureje O, Abdulmalik J, Kola L, Musa E, Yasamy MT, Adebayo K. Integrating mental health
into primary care in Nigeria: Report of a demonstration project using the mental health gap
action programme intervention guide. BMC Health Serv Res. 2015 Jun;15:242-50.

Annotation:
Methods: A pilot programme was implemented in Nigeria to train non-specialist health
workers in the detection and management of mental illness in primary care attendees using
the WHO mhGAP-IG. The project phases included planning, implementation, and
monitoring and evaluation to ensure quality.
Findings: Training was effective in improving knowledge and skills of health workers,
though improvement deteriorated over time. Training allowed for successful diagnosis and
treatment of more than 95 patients during study period, and increased rate of referrals for
mental disorders.
Strengths & weaknesses: The study demonstrates feasibility of cascade training for non-
specialists, but nearly 40% of clinical assessments were not in compliance with mhGAP-IG,
suggesting that further training may be needed.
Relevance to policy: Given the lack of mental health specialists in Nigeria, the delivery of
treatment and care by non-specialists could narrow the treatment gap. This study provides
evidence of a feasible solution for training of non-specialists.
The reporting of all aspects of the study and its policy relevance should be reported in your own
words and be based on your assessment of the study as it relates to your chosen policy area of
focus, not a direct paraphrase of what the authors report in the paper.

How will my annotated bibliography be assessed?

In order to receive a satisfactory score (2 or above), you must submit 10 unique references
with annotation of each individual reference; bibliographies containing fewer than 10
unique references and/or missing annotations will not receive a passing grade unless
lack of this number of references can be justified. The only exception is where you can
demonstrate that there was no relevant text available (and this is rarely the case). In such
cases you could provide evidence from a similar setting (e.g. a neighbouring country with
similar health system challenges) and which is highly relevant to the argument that you are
making. Please try to keep such studies (i.e. not from the country of interest) to a
minimum (no more than 3); restrict these studies to the geographical region to which the
country belongs, to the extent possible; and articulate a strong rationale for selecting that
particular study (including how its country context is comparable to your chosen country
of focus).

Markers will be assessing whether your bibliography succinctly presents the best available
evidence on your issue in your chosen country. Grades will be based on your ability to
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provide for each source: appropriate referencing, a summary of its methods and findings; a
concise explanation of its strengths and weaknesses; and how it relates to your topic.
(Weights and grade descriptors are provided below.)

What are the markers looking for?

The different aspects of this assignment will be weighted approximately as listed below:
 10 unique and relevant references from reliable sources: (10% of grade)
o References cover a breadth of relevant topics and come from reliable sources (eg
government reports, research articles, etc.).
o Where possible, primary sources (eg original research articles) are used (as opposed to
newspaper articles or press releases, fact sheets, etc.); where no primary sources can be
identified, this should be stated as a weakness (see below).
o No deduction for missing references if a student can demonstrate that 10 relevant texts are
not available. If you are unable to identify 10 references, give detail as to how you
conducted your search and explain why resulting papers were not suitable for inclusion.
 Appropriate referencing: (10% of grade)
o Students must use either Harvard or Vancouver style for references. Please ensure that you
adhere to the chosen citation style’s formatting of journal titles and author names.
o ‘Appropriate referencing’ refers to accuracy, completeness and consistency.
o Any hyperlinks must be functional.
 Summary of methods: (10% of grade)
o Type of research (eg survey, epidemiological, evaluation, clinical trial).
o Not all sources will designate the type of methods used to collect information, in which case
this should be stated as a weakness (see below).
 Summary of findings: (25% of grade)
o Brief but clear explanation of key findings.
 Strengths & weaknesses: (20% of grade)
o Brief but clear analysis of the extent to which the information from the source can be
considered valid and reliable.
 Relevance to policy: (25% of grade)
o Brief evaluation of the relevance of the source to your policy-relevant topic in a specific
country. (Take care not to restate the findings, but rather to critically apply the results of
the study to your chosen country and policy context.)
• Type and double-space your assignment using 12-point font.
• Include page numbers in your document.
• Include a clear title at the beginning of your assignment, identifying your chosen country
and policy area of focus. Please be specific about your chosen policy topic; your references
will be assessed in light of your bibliography title.
• Check that you have included 10 references, or else provided justification for missing
references.
• Number each reference (continuous numbering).
• Fully and accurately cite all references and resources used to complete your assignment. Refer to
the Academic Writing Handbook for instructions on correct referencing and citation.
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• Refer to the Academic Manual section 7.2 (Academic Integrity) for information on assessment
irregularities and the penalties that will be imposed if an irregularity is identified.
• Ensure you keep to the word limit. Assignments that exceed the set word limit will be penalised.
See section 8b.6.5.3 of LSHTM’s Academic Manual for the penalties that will be applied.
• Your assignment should be submitted as a single Word document to the Assignment
Management System (AMS) by 23:59 UK time on 14 February 2023.
• See section 8b.6.5.9 of LSHTM’s Academic Manual for details of the penalties that will be applied
to assignments submitted after the submission deadline.
• Remember to keep a copy of the assignment you submit and ensure that the assignment
document’s ‘Last modified’ date is before the submission deadline (i.e. do not re-save or
modify your assignment as doing so will update the ‘Last modified’ date). In the unlikely
event of a technical issue with the AMS we will only accept an assignment document as a
valid submission if the ‘Last modified’ date is before the submission deadline.