Transcript Annotated Bibliographies

Annotated Bibliographies
Mrs. Fukasawa 2011
The purpose of research is
to not merely to cut & paste,
it is to come up with a
unique idea that you can
support with your research.
• Choose sources that provide a variety
of perspectives on your topic
• Higher level thinking requires the ability
to look at information that is
contradictory and being able to make
informed conclusions based on
information from both sides.
College Level Research
Requires a Variety of
Resources:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Books
Magazines & newspapers
Professional/academic journals
Reference books
Government records & documents
The internet
Subscription databases
The Process
• Develop your thesis and decide which
resources you will use to support it.
• Those resources will be used in your
annotated bibliography.
What is an annotated
bibliography?
• It is a bibliography that includes all the
information you normally use for a “Works
Cited” page plus . . . .
• One to three paragraphs of text that include
the following:
A determination of whether the
information is a Primary or
Secondary source
• Primary sources: government documents,
memoirs, autobiographies, journals, diaries,
newspaper articles, scholarly journal articles
etc. American Memories Website
• Secondary sources: books, encyclopedia
articles & reference books
Information about the
author
• Is the author an expert in his/her field?
• Where does he/she work? (educational
credentials)
• Have you seen this author cited in other
sources?
The intended audience
• Is this a scholarly or popular journal?
• Is the information too easy, too
technical, too advanced, or just right for
your needs?
The author’s purpose
• Is the information fact, opinion or
propaganda?
• Is the author’s point of view objective
and impartial?
• Is the information free from emotional
and biased language?
Book Reviews
• What do others have to say about this
resource?
• Book reviews can be found on:
– Amazon.com
– www.powells.com
– Advanced search
Was the source helpful to
you?
• Did it help shape your argument?
• Has it changed how you think about
your topic?
How is an annotation
different from an abstract?
• Abstracts
– Descriptive
Summaries
• Annotations
– Descriptive
Summaries
– Assess usefulness of
the source
– Reflect on how
helpful the source
was to you
Steps
1. Research your topic of interest.
2. Choose a variety of resources that will
reflect various opinions of the topic
3. Narrow down your topic and develop a
thesis statement
4. Narrow down your resources to the
ones most useful for your thesis
Example
• Broad topic: Japanese Internment
during WWII
• Resources:
– Newspapers of the time (American
Memories and National Archives)
– Books
– Academic Journals
– Current day analysis by credible sources
Example
• Narrow the topic & develop a thesis
statement
– Over 110,000 Japanese American citizens
and immigrants were incarcerated during
WWII in the United States because of
racial discrimination fueled by the media.
• Narrow your resources to the ones that
will best support your thesis
• Make sure you have a variety of
resources from different perspectives
• Begin looking in depth at each resource:
Author’s purpose, author’s credentials,
bias, intended audience etc.
Begin each annotation with the
normal MLA citation format
• Smith, Dinitia. "Photographs of an
Episode That Lives in Infamy." New
York Times: Art and Design. New York
Times, 6 Nov. 2006. Web. 1 Jan.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/06/art
s/design/06lang.html>.
Follow with the Annotation
written in paragraph form
• Dinitia Smith,the cultural correspondent for this article
has written three novels and taught at Columbia
University. The New York Times Co. owns 15 other
daily newspapers in addition to it’s 50 web sites.
Their purpose is to create, collect and distribute
news, information and entertainment. This article was
featured in the art and design section to give some
insight into the life of the famous photographer,
Dorothea Lange. Lange became renowned for her
photographs taken during the Great Depression and
the Japanese internment during WWII. (word count 84)
Annotated Bibliography
examples
• Purdue University Library:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/owlpri
nt/614/
• Cornell University Library:
http://olinuris.library.cornell.edu/ref/resear
ch/skills28.htm