What is an annotated bibliography?

Bibliography – Research Project
Assignment
As part of your research project, you will be turning in a bibliography of sources that you are planning on using in your final project. This activity will be a combination of an annotated and a not-annotated bibliography.

**Please note, that once you turn this in, March 24, you will be LOCKED IN to your topic. Also, even if you don’t turn it in, after this date, you will be locked into your topic.**

Instructions
1. At the top of the page, include your working thesis that you have revised since the planning activity.

2. Next, write a heading “Annotated Bibliography” and complete an annotated bibliography in your discipline’s style with at least 5 sources that you know you want to use for the research essay.

At minimum, four of these sources MUST be scholarly
1 may be your credible non-scholarly source.
3. Start a new section. Label this on “Potential Bibliography” and provide a list of the five other sources that may or may not use for your research essay. You do not have to annotate these potential sources.

This assignment will help you on a couple of levels:

You will start your research sooner rather than later.
You will learn more about your topic because you are forced to read each source carefully and respond to them
You will practice your citation style.

What is an annotated bibliography?
An annotated bibliography is a list of citations to books, articles, and documents. Each citation is followed by a brief (approximately 200 words) 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.

Creating an annotated bibliography calls for the application of a variety of intellectual skills: concise exposition, succinct analysis, and informed library research.

How to create an annotated bibliography
First, locate and record citations to books, periodicals, and documents that may contain useful information and ideas on your topic. Briefly examine and review the actual items. Then choose those works that provide a variety of perspectives on your topic.

Cite the book, article, or document using proper and up-to-date style of your discipline.

Write a concise annotation that summarizes the central theme and scope of the book or article. Include one or more sentences that (a) evaluate the authority or background of the author, (b) comment on the intended audience, (c) compare or contrast this work with another you have cited, or (d) explain how this work illuminates your bibliography topic. Keep in mind that annotated bibliography is for secondary sources. Your annotation should be on the next line under the citation.

**Please take note of the spacing and the formatting in the examples — both include a book and a journal article.

****Grades for this will be assessed based on the completeness of the annotation, the preciseness of your citation style, and the type and form of your sources.

******I posted links in Week 4 to the various citation styles; please use them!

Examples
APA format

Barthelemy, J., & Geyer, D. (2005). An empirical investigation of IT outsourcing versus outsourcing in France and

Germany. ​Information & Management, 42​, 533-542. doi:10.1016/j.im.2004.02.005

The authors present an investigation of IT outsourcing based on the combined results of a survey administered to IT firms as well as statistical measures from domestic and French or German firms. Their data covers a wide range of IT business unit types. However, the lack of longitudinal data weakens their conclusion that the slower pace of French and German IT outsourcing has had a long-term positive effect on business in those countries.

Ehrenreich, B. (2001). Nickel and dimed: On (not) getting by in America. Henry Holt and Company.

In this book of nonfiction based on the journalist’s experiential research, Ehrenreich attempts to ascertain whether it is currently possible for an individual to live on a minimum-wage in America. Taking jobs as a waitress, a maid in a cleaning service, and a Walmart sales employee, the author summarizes and reflects on her work, her relationships with fellow workers, and her financial struggles in each situation.

An experienced journalist, Ehrenreich is aware of the limitations of her experiment and the ethical implications of her experiential research tactics and reflects on these issues in the text. The author is forthcoming about her methods and supplements her experiences with scholarly research on her places of employment, the economy, and the rising cost of living in America. Ehrenreich’s project is timely, descriptive, and well-researched.

MLA Format

Lamott, Anne. Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. Anchor Books, 1995.

Lamott’s book offers honest advice on the nature of a writing life, complete with its insecurities and failures. Taking a humorous approach to the realities of being a writer, the chapters in Lamott’s book are wry and anecdotal and offer advice on everything from plot development to jealousy, from perfectionism to struggling with one’s own internal critic.

In the process, Lamott includes writing exercises designed to be both productive and fun. Lamott offers sane advice for those struggling with the anxieties of writing, but her main project seems to be offering the reader a reality check regarding writing, publishing, and struggling with one’s own imperfect humanity in the process. Rather than a practical handbook to producing and/or publishing, this text is indispensable because of its honest perspective, its down-to-earth humor, and its encouraging approach.

Chapters in this text could easily be included in the curriculum for a writing class. Several of the chapters in Part 1 address the writing process and would serve to generate discussion on students’ own drafting and revising processes. Some of the writing exercises would also be appropriate for generating classroom writing exercises. Students should find Lamott’s style both engaging and enjoyable.

Waite, Linda J., Frances Kobrin Goldscheider, and Christina Witsberger. “Nonfamily Living and the Erosion of

Traditional Family Orientations Among Young Adults.” American Sociological Review, vol. 51, no. 2, 1986, pp.

541-54.

The authors, researchers at the Rand Corporation and Brown University, use data from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Young Women and Young Men to test their hypothesis that nonfamily living by young adults alters their attitudes, values, plans, and expectations, moving them away from their belief in traditional sex roles. They find their hypothesis strongly supported in young females, while the effects were fewer in studies of young males. Increasing the time away from parents before marrying increased individualism, self-sufficiency, and changes in attitudes about families. In contrast, an earlier study by Williams cited below shows no significant gender differences in sex role attitudes as a result of nonfamily living