Clarity of Action

In Islam, learning is by doing, as is clearly stated in Surah Al-Ankabut 29:69

وَالَّذِينَ جَاهَدُوا فِينَا لَنَهْدِيَنَّهُمْ سُبُلَنَا وَإِنَّ اللَّهَ لَمَعَ الْمُحْسِنِينَ 29:69

One has to struggle to get ownership of material -- it is not enough to read an article, you must struggle to understand it. To do this, you must understand WHY the author wrote the article. The intention of the author is very important in understanding to scope, goals and meaning of the article.

In preparing an annotated bibliography, you should read the article, and then think about it. Then write down in your own words what the article is all about. Then compare what you wrote with the abstract to see how well your understanding of the article matches what the authors say about the article. This step is also very important to avoid plagiarism -- writing in your own words will ensure that it is YOUR understanding of the article that appears in your article. Copying without understanding (cut and paste) is very common and very harmful.

One important point is regarding the transmission of knowledge. USUALLY an article represents the final extract of a long struggle by the authors to organize and present certain facts. You get the benefit of this experience in a very short period of time. This is an efficient way to learn. Just think of the ENTIRE span of human knowledge. It is the labor of millions of men, working over many centuries. We cannot possible learn all of this knowledge. We cannot try to re-create it -- instead we can just reap the fruit of their labors.

An important caveat and warning is the problem of differentiating the good from the bad. There is a HUGE amount of garbage -- misinformation, disinformation, and just plain wrong stuff. It is important to read only good articles from trusted authors -- since we dont have time to read all the bad ones. But how do you know what is good and bad? Here is where you should get guidance from your supervisor. HOWEVER, in a narrow and specialized field of your own topic, you should read all articles good or bad, in order to learn what is being said.