Annotated Bibliography

Library Assignment: Suggested Due Date January 30, 2013

What is an Annotated Bibliography?

An annotated bibliography is a list of citations to books, articles, and other resources. Each

citation is followed by a brief 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. Annotations are usually about 150 words.

Annotations vs. Abstracts

Abstracts are the descriptive summaries often found at the beginning of scholarly journal

articles or in subscription databases. Annotations, on the other hand, are descriptive and

critical; they discuss the author's point of view, clarity, appropriateness of expression,

authority, etc.

The Process

Creating an annotated bibliography calls for the application of a variety of intellectual skills:

concise writing, succinct analysis, synthesis, and informed library research. You will be

searching for and selecting electronic databases, websites, scholarly journal articles, and books

from which to gather information relevant to a selected topic. You will create citations for these

resources using the American Psychological Association (APA) or Modern Language

Association (MLA) format. You will write concise annotations that summarize the central theme

and scope of the websites, articles, and books. These annotations should include one or more

sentences that: 1. Evaluate the authority, background, and education of the author(s) 2. Comment on the intended audience. For whom was it written (general public/any reader,

subject specialists, college students)? What skill level or education level must the reader have?

3. Compare or contrast this work with another you have cited

4. Discuss how this work explains your selected topic

There is more information and several examples of annotated bibliographies on the course website. Go to the

following websites for more information and sample annotated bibliographies:

1. http://dante.udallas.edu/edu3327/annotated_bibliography.htm

2. http://dante.udallas.edu/edu3327/sample_projects/list.htm

3. http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/614/1/

Information About and Examples of Annotations

In class on Wednesday, January 30, 2013, you will be expected to show a Bibliographic

list – in APA or MLA format -- of possible sources. You must have at least 10 total

sources and at least 5 related sources for each potential theorist/theory of interest.

Among the sources for each theorist, include at least one primary text and at least one

research study.

Due: At least one annotated entry for use in the Annotated Bibliography. Please upload

the entry into the Assignments portion of Blackboard. Bring a copy to class.

You will be creating an annotated bibliography of 8-12 sources as part of your research study. I

recommend that you submit your first few annotations to make sure that you understand the

assignment. Each annotation submitted prior to March 2 will be checked and given back to you with

suggested corrections. You will then have time to correct the annotations and improve your process

for creating a complete annotated bibliography. Be sure to keep a digital file of all work on your

Research Study Portfolio. This will save you time and keep all your work together and organized and

easier for final submission.

IMPORTANT: Credit will not be given for descriptive/evaluative information copied from another

source. In other words, if you find a book review and copy this review to serve as your annotation you

will not receive credit. This is considered plagiarism and your instructor will take further action (see

Academic Honor Code). You will not receive credit if citations are not in a consistent MLA or APA

format. In other words, if you copy a citation from the library’s catalog or from a database and do not

attempt to format the citation in MLA/APA format you will not receive credit.

Part 1: Selecting a Worthy Topic

Choose a theory/theorist that will be the focus of your research study. The annotated bibliography is

intended to support this topic. The following are suggestions for finding and choosing a theory/theorist.

1. Carefully examine the Crain text. Evaluate your interest in theorists/theories indicated in the

Table of Contents and Index. If you find something, skim/scan those sections of the chapters.

Note citations in the text and check out references in the back of the book. This will help you

find research articles and primary texts.

2. Examine the course website, especially the Theory Websites and Sample Research Study Links

for ideas.

3. Use a web-based academic search engine (such as Google Scholar) or an electronic database

(through the UD library), to search for potential sources.

Part 2: Locating Scholarly Journal Articles

Using the list of articles collected in Part 1, select an appropriate electronic database in the UD

Library electronic catalogue (such as EBSCO – which allows you to choose several sources).

Then, use appropriate search strategies to find scholarly journal articles, especially primary

sources and research studies, relevant to your selected theory/theorist. Credit will not be given

for articles that are not from scholarly journals. “Scholarly” is also known as “peer reviewed” or

“refereed.” These can be contrasted with “popular” magazines. These concepts will be

discussed in class. Examine these resources and create a citation and an annotation for each

article.

Part 3: Locating Books

Using the library’s online catalog (which will be discussed in class) and the list of books

that you created in Part 1, search for primary texts that would help you gather more

information on your selected topic. Try to find 2 books that are most relevant to your topic.

Examine these resources and create a citation and an annotation for each source. Note: You

need not read an entire book. Strategies for evaluating books will be discussed in class.

Part 1: Selecting a Worthy Topic

The Annotated Bibliography – An Element of the Research Study Portfolio