Assignment Instructions

Annotated Bibliography

You will submit an annotated bibliography for 2 of your sources for the week 7 Analysis  Paper.

Each source will have the correct citation entry for the citation style you are using, as well as an annotation, which is made of a paragraph or two telling the reader about the source.  

To help you gather sources, review the assignment description for the week 7 analysis paper.  Pay special attention to the article linked there and the steps for identifying your problem. Here is the link to the article: “

Looking for Trouble: Finding Your Way into a Writing Assignment

.” This piece shows how to write about solving a problem, using the steps of noticing, articulating, posing questions, and identifying what is at stake.

After you have identified your problem, you can start choosing your sources and build an annotated bibliography.

Here are the steps you will take to build your annotated bibliography:

• First, determine what kind of source you are using. Is it a book?. Hint: if you are looking at your source on your computer, you will go to the category of electronic sources to start looking.
• Copy that model and paste it into your bibliography.
• Then put your source in the correct citation format, following the model you just copied and pasted.
• Finally, write a brief annotation of that source.  The annotation should describe the main ideas covered in the source as well as an evaluation by you for the source’s usefulness for your project. The handout attached below has more information about what should be in the annotation.
• Follow the student example included below. You will see the model, the citation, and then the annotation for the source.  The rubric shown below shows that you will be graded on having the model for the citation format, so don’t forget to include it.
• The attachment “Peer Review Defined” has helpful information from the peer-reviewed sources.
• The attachment “how to” handout has some helpful tips on what to include in an annotation. 
• Submit your assignment as a Word document attached to the assignment link so it can be processed on Turnitin.

Sample Annotation.   Each of your entries should follow the format below.

Sally Student
COLL 300
Date
Annotated Bibliography- MLA

Model from  Citation Guide (MLA)

PRINT BOOK  

Format: 

Author last name, first name. Book title. City: publisher, year. Medium.

Calkins, Lucy.  Raising Lifelong Learners: A Parent’s Guide.  Reading: Addison-Wesley 
        Longman.  1997.  Print.

Lucy Calkins is a noted teacher and researcher in reading and writing. Her book is a guide for parents, helping them to work with their children’s schools to create a positive learning environment and a lifelong love of learning in their children.  Topics covered include fostering learning and curiosity in mathematics, science, social studies, reading, and writing.  Calkins’ work also offers advice on school curriculum and testing. By providing specific examples of parental involvement, this book will help support my assertion that parents need to play a strong role in their children’s education.

Supporting Materials

see files

Library __ Help in writing annotations

An annotation is more than a brief summary of a book, article, or other publication.
Its purpose is to describe the work in such a way that the reader can decide whether or not
to read the work itself.

A bibliography, of course, is a list of writings and is a standard appendage to a
scholarly book or article. An annotated bibliography, in which each item is summarized, is
valuable because it helps the reader understand the particular uses of each item. The ideal
bibliography discusses the relationships of one item to another.

The following 6 points provide guidance for writing an annotation:

1. The authority and the qualifications of the author, unless extremely well known,
should be clearly stated. Preferably this is to be done early in the annotation: “John Z.
Schmidt, a Russian history professor at Interstate University, based his research on recently
discovered documents.”

2. The scope and main purpose of the text must be explained. This is usually done in one
to three short sentences. For example, “He reveals that a few Germans played a key role in
the events leading up to the revolution. They provided money, arms, and leadership that
helped the revolution get started.” Unlike an abstract, which is an abridgement or synopsis,
the writer cannot hope to summarize the total content of the work.

3. The relation of other works, if any, in the field is usually worth noting: “Schmidt’s
conclusions are dramatically different from those in Mark Johnson’ Why the Red
Revolution?”

4. The major bias or standpoint of the author in relation to the theme should be
clarified: “However, Schmidt’s case is somewhat weakened by an anti-German bias, which
was mentioned by two reviewers.”

5. The audience and the level of reading difficulty should be indicated: “Schmidt addresses
himself to the scholar, but the concluding chapters will be clear to any informed layman.”
This is not always present in an annotation but is important if the work is targeted to a
specific audience.

6. At this point the annotation might conclude with a summary comment: “This detailed
account provides new information that will be of interest to scholars as well as educated
adults.”

Adapted from: Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science
GS 8/05

EXAMPLES

Schmidt, J.Z. (1973). Causes of the Russian Revolution. New York: Herklon.

Schmidt, a Russian history professor at Interstate University, based his research on
recently discovered documents. He reveals that a few Germans played a key role in the
events leading up to the revolution. They provided money, arms, and leadership that helped
the revolution get started. Schmidt’s conclusions are radically different from those in Mark
Johnson’s Why the Red Revolution?. However, Schmidt’s case is somewhat weakened by an
anti-German bias, which was mentioned by two reviewers. Schmidt addresses himself to
the scholar, but the concluding chapters will be clear to any informed layman. The style is
heavy and argumentative, with many footnotes. This detailed account provides new
information that will be of interest to scholars as well as educated adults.

Mélendez, A. (1990). The Effects of Local Labor Market on Puerto Rican, White and Black
Women. Journal of Social Issues, 35 (3), 4-24.

Considering earnings, unemployment, city size, industrial change, and other variables, the
author, a researcher at M.I.T., focuses on the impact of local labor market conditions and
infers differences in the long-term trends in labor force participation for each of these
groups. He supports the thesis that White women are less responsive to income change
and more responsive to the discouraged worker effect when unemployment rises than either
Black or Puerto Rican women. Other factors affect Black or Puerto Rican population more so
than the White. Based on studies by Bowne and Finegan (1969) and Santana-Cooney
(1979) this work goes even further in detailing labor market impact on work force
participation.

Note
There are, to be sure, other elements in various types of annotations, but if the six points
noted are covered, the annotator can at least be certain the strategic territory has been
adequately surveyed. By definition annotations are short notes and are normally no more
than 150 words. Verbosity is the major sin; brevity and clarity the goal.

For further information:

Online Writing Lab at Purdue University: Annotated Bibliographies
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/general/gl_annotatedbib.html

ing an Annotated Bibliography
http://library.csun.edu/Research_Assistance/annotated.html

Cornell University Olin & Uris Libraries: How to Prepare an Annotated Bibliography
http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/research/skill28.htm

California State University Northridge Oviatt Library: Creat
Cornell University Olin & Uris Libraries: How to Prepare an

APUS Library answers the question “What does peer reviewed mean?”

Essentially, peer review is an academic term for quality control.  Each article published in a peer-reviewed journal was closely examined by a panel of reviewers who are experts on the article’s topic (that is, the author’s professional peers…hence the term peer review).  The reviewers look for proper use of research methods, significance of the paper’s contribution to the existing literature, and integration of previous authors’ work on the topic in any discussion (including citations).  Papers published in these journals are expert-approved…and the most authoritative sources of information for college-level research papers. 

Articles from

popular

publications, on the other hand (like magazines, newspapers or many sites on the Internet), are published with minimal editing (for spelling and grammar, perhaps; but, typically not for factual accuracy or intellectual integrity).  While interesting to read, these articles aren’t sufficient to support research at an academic level. 

But, with so many articles out there, how do you know which are peer reviewed?

1. Searching the library’s databases can save you a lot of time…allowing you to

limit your search to scholarly or peer reviewed articles only

. Most internet search engines (like Google and Yahoo) can’t do this for you, leaving you to determine for yourself which of those thousands of articles are peer reviewed. 
 

1. If you’ve already found an article that you’d like to use in a research paper, but you’re not sure if it’s popular or scholarly, there are ways to tell.  The table below lists some of the most obvious clues (but

your librarians

will be happy to help you figure it out as well). 

1. limit your search to scholarly or peer reviewed articles only. Most internet search engines (like Google and Yahoo) can’t do this for you, leaving you to determine for yourself which of those thousands of articles are peer reviewed. 
 

1. If you’ve already found an article that you’d like to use in a research paper, but you’re not sure if it’s popular or scholarly, there are ways to tell.  The table below lists some of the most obvious clues (but your librarians will be happy to help you figure it out as well).