This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue (http://owl.english.purdue.edu/) and modified by Steven Hyland. OWL Contributors: Dana Bisignani, Allen Brizee.
For the research portion of our class, you will be required to turn in two annotated bibliographies – one before Spring Break and one after it. For the first annotated bibliography, I expect a total of five secondary sources and two primary. Of the 7 sources, I want 1 of them summarized in an annotated bibliography (i.e. with the notes taken from the sources being used). You are still required to list in Chicago style all the sources collected. Quotes, paraphrases, and your commentary are what goes here; remember to record the page numbers you found the information on so that you can easily find them when you set out to write. The second annotated bibliography will continue the work started earlier in the semester. It should count a total of at least 15-17 sources (5 secondary; 10-12 primary), 2 of which should be annotated (1 digital source and 1 scholarly). Your topic will and should evolve as you do research.
For your sources presented in the annotated bibliographies, you need to know what information they record and how that information is useful for your study. For instance, different censes asked different questions. The 1840 U.S. Census is largely a list of names, genders and ages of people, but by the 1860s, literacy rates were recorded, as were various economic and social conditions. There are many questions that you could ask of the 1860 Census that are impossible to know from the 1840. Similarly, vital records are quite amazing documents, but they are only half sheets of paper (usually), and only have a very limited bit of information. If you tell me that you want to research love in the 1950s by looking at birth records, I would ask “how?” Birth records contain no information about love. Know what the sources you do have CAN tell you, and if that information is relevant to your research.
Be realistic about the sources you plan on using. There are great records available at the Biblioteca Nacional de Buenos Aires, but much of it is not available without a trip south. Since we are doing digital projects, this should be rather easy because of the vastness of the internet.
Annotated Bibliographies
Definitions
A bibliography is a list of sources (books, journals, websites, periodicals, etc.) one has used for researching a topic. Bibliographies are sometimes called "references" or "works cited" depending on the style format you are using. A bibliography usually just includes the bibliographic information (i.e., the author, title, publisher, etc.).
An annotation is a summary and/or evaluation.
Therefore, an annotated bibliography includes a summary and/or evaluation of each of the sources. Depending on your project or the assignment, your annotations may do one or more of the following:
Copyright ©1995-2012 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.
Why should I write an annotated bibliography?
To learn about your topic: Writing an annotated bibliography is excellent preparation for a research project. Just collecting sources for a bibliography is useful, but when you have to write annotations for each source, you're forced to read each source more carefully. You begin to read more critically instead of just collecting information. At the professional level, annotated bibliographies allow you to see what has been done in the literature and where your own research or scholarship can fit. To help you formulate a thesis: Every good research paper is an argument. The purpose of research is to state and support a thesis. So a very important part of research is developing a thesis that is debatable, interesting, and current. Writing an annotated bibliography can help you gain a good perspective on what is being said about your topic. By reading and responding to a variety of sources on a topic, you'll start to see what the issues are, what people are arguing about, and you'll then be able to develop your own point of view.
To help other researchers: Extensive and scholarly annotated bibliographies are sometimes published. They provide a comprehensive overview of everything important that has been and is being said about that topic. You may not ever get your annotated bibliography published, but as a researcher, you might want to look for one that has been published about your topic.
Format
The bibliographic information: Chicago format.
The annotations: The annotations for each source are written in paragraph form. The lengths of the annotations can vary significantly from a couple of sentences to a couple of pages. The length will depend on the purpose. If you're just writing summaries of your sources, the annotations may not be very long. However, if you are writing an extensive analysis of each source, you'll need more space.
You can focus your annotations for your own needs. A few sentences of general summary followed by several sentences of how you can fit the work into your larger paper or project can serve you well when you go to draft.
Sample Annotations for Dr. Hyland’s class:
(Source: http://libguides.brandonu.ca/content.php?pid=26571&sid=192401)
Battle, Ken. "Child Poverty: The Evolution and Impact of Child Benefits." In A Question of Commitment: Children's Rights in Canada, edited by Katherine Covell and Howe, R. Brian, 21-44. Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2007.
Ken Battle draws on a close study of government documents, as well as his own research as an extensively-published policy analyst, to explain Canadian child benefit programs. He outlines some fundamental assumptions supporting the belief that all society members should contribute to the upbringing of children. His comparison of child poverty rates in a number of countries is a useful wake-up to anyone assuming Canadian society is doing a good job of protecting children. Battle pays particular attention to the National Child Benefit (NCB), arguing that it did not deserve to be criticized by politicians and journalists. He outlines the NCB’s development, costs, and benefits, and laments that the Conservative government scaled it back in favour of the inferior Universal Child Care Benefit (UCCB). However, he relies too heavily on his own work; he is the sole or primary author of almost half the sources in his bibliography. He could make this work stronger by drawing from others' perspectives and analyses. However, Battle does offer a valuable source for this essay, because the chapter provides a concise overview of government-funded assistance currently available to parents. This offers context for analyzing the scope and financial reality of child poverty in Canada.
Kerr, Don, and Roderic Beaujot. "Child Poverty and Family Structure in Canada, 1981-1997." Journal of Comparative Family Studies 34, no. 3 (2003): 321-335.
Sociology professors Kerr and Beaujot analyze the demographics of impoverished families. Drawing on data from Canada’s annual Survey of Consumer Finances, the authors consider whether each family had one or two parents, the age of single parents, and the number of children in each household. They analyze child poverty rates in light of both these demographic factors and larger economic issues. Kerr and Beaujot use this data to argue that …
For the research portion of our class, you will be required to turn in two annotated bibliographies – one before Spring Break and one after it. For the first annotated bibliography, I expect a total of five secondary sources and two primary. Of the 7 sources, I want 1 of them summarized in an annotated bibliography (i.e. with the notes taken from the sources being used). You are still required to list in Chicago style all the sources collected. Quotes, paraphrases, and your commentary are what goes here; remember to record the page numbers you found the information on so that you can easily find them when you set out to write. The second annotated bibliography will continue the work started earlier in the semester. It should count a total of at least 15-17 sources (5 secondary; 10-12 primary), 2 of which should be annotated (1 digital source and 1 scholarly). Your topic will and should evolve as you do research.
For your sources presented in the annotated bibliographies, you need to know what information they record and how that information is useful for your study. For instance, different censes asked different questions. The 1840 U.S. Census is largely a list of names, genders and ages of people, but by the 1860s, literacy rates were recorded, as were various economic and social conditions. There are many questions that you could ask of the 1860 Census that are impossible to know from the 1840. Similarly, vital records are quite amazing documents, but they are only half sheets of paper (usually), and only have a very limited bit of information. If you tell me that you want to research love in the 1950s by looking at birth records, I would ask “how?” Birth records contain no information about love. Know what the sources you do have CAN tell you, and if that information is relevant to your research.
Be realistic about the sources you plan on using. There are great records available at the Biblioteca Nacional de Buenos Aires, but much of it is not available without a trip south. Since we are doing digital projects, this should be rather easy because of the vastness of the internet.
Annotated Bibliographies
Definitions
A bibliography is a list of sources (books, journals, websites, periodicals, etc.) one has used for researching a topic. Bibliographies are sometimes called "references" or "works cited" depending on the style format you are using. A bibliography usually just includes the bibliographic information (i.e., the author, title, publisher, etc.).
An annotation is a summary and/or evaluation.
Therefore, an annotated bibliography includes a summary and/or evaluation of each of the sources. Depending on your project or the assignment, your annotations may do one or more of the following:
- Summarize: Some annotations merely summarize the source. What are the main arguments? What is the point of this book or article? What topics are covered? If someone asked what this article/book is about, what would you say? The length of your annotations will determine how detailed your summary is.
- Assess: After summarizing a source, it may be helpful to evaluate it. Is it a useful source? How does it compare with other sources in your bibliography? Is the information reliable? Is this source biased or objective? What is the goal of this source?
- Reflect: Once you've summarized and assessed a source, you need to ask how it fits into your research. Was this source helpful to you? How does it help you shape your argument? How can you use this source in your research project? Has it changed how you think about your topic?
Copyright ©1995-2012 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.
Why should I write an annotated bibliography?
To learn about your topic: Writing an annotated bibliography is excellent preparation for a research project. Just collecting sources for a bibliography is useful, but when you have to write annotations for each source, you're forced to read each source more carefully. You begin to read more critically instead of just collecting information. At the professional level, annotated bibliographies allow you to see what has been done in the literature and where your own research or scholarship can fit. To help you formulate a thesis: Every good research paper is an argument. The purpose of research is to state and support a thesis. So a very important part of research is developing a thesis that is debatable, interesting, and current. Writing an annotated bibliography can help you gain a good perspective on what is being said about your topic. By reading and responding to a variety of sources on a topic, you'll start to see what the issues are, what people are arguing about, and you'll then be able to develop your own point of view.
To help other researchers: Extensive and scholarly annotated bibliographies are sometimes published. They provide a comprehensive overview of everything important that has been and is being said about that topic. You may not ever get your annotated bibliography published, but as a researcher, you might want to look for one that has been published about your topic.
Format
The bibliographic information: Chicago format.
The annotations: The annotations for each source are written in paragraph form. The lengths of the annotations can vary significantly from a couple of sentences to a couple of pages. The length will depend on the purpose. If you're just writing summaries of your sources, the annotations may not be very long. However, if you are writing an extensive analysis of each source, you'll need more space.
You can focus your annotations for your own needs. A few sentences of general summary followed by several sentences of how you can fit the work into your larger paper or project can serve you well when you go to draft.
Sample Annotations for Dr. Hyland’s class:
(Source: http://libguides.brandonu.ca/content.php?pid=26571&sid=192401)
Battle, Ken. "Child Poverty: The Evolution and Impact of Child Benefits." In A Question of Commitment: Children's Rights in Canada, edited by Katherine Covell and Howe, R. Brian, 21-44. Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2007.
Ken Battle draws on a close study of government documents, as well as his own research as an extensively-published policy analyst, to explain Canadian child benefit programs. He outlines some fundamental assumptions supporting the belief that all society members should contribute to the upbringing of children. His comparison of child poverty rates in a number of countries is a useful wake-up to anyone assuming Canadian society is doing a good job of protecting children. Battle pays particular attention to the National Child Benefit (NCB), arguing that it did not deserve to be criticized by politicians and journalists. He outlines the NCB’s development, costs, and benefits, and laments that the Conservative government scaled it back in favour of the inferior Universal Child Care Benefit (UCCB). However, he relies too heavily on his own work; he is the sole or primary author of almost half the sources in his bibliography. He could make this work stronger by drawing from others' perspectives and analyses. However, Battle does offer a valuable source for this essay, because the chapter provides a concise overview of government-funded assistance currently available to parents. This offers context for analyzing the scope and financial reality of child poverty in Canada.
Kerr, Don, and Roderic Beaujot. "Child Poverty and Family Structure in Canada, 1981-1997." Journal of Comparative Family Studies 34, no. 3 (2003): 321-335.
Sociology professors Kerr and Beaujot analyze the demographics of impoverished families. Drawing on data from Canada’s annual Survey of Consumer Finances, the authors consider whether each family had one or two parents, the age of single parents, and the number of children in each household. They analyze child poverty rates in light of both these demographic factors and larger economic issues. Kerr and Beaujot use this data to argue that …
