What Is an Annotated Bibliography? s1

What is an Annotated Bibliography? An annotated bibliography is an organized list of sources (may be any variety of materials, books, documents, videos, articles, web sites, CD-ROMs, etc.) with an accompanying paragraph that describes, explains, and/or evaluates each entry in terms of quality, authority, and relevance.

Each source typically contains the following elements*:

 APA style reference  A short paragraph of 3 or 4 sentences including: o The question or problem addressed by the article (the "topic" and RQ); o The article's method of analysis (experimental? theoretical?); o The article's thesis, conclusions, and/or recommendations.  Your assessment of the article's usefulness (global and specific) to your research goals o e.g. maybe you need only the bibliography or a specific discussion of a particular theory

Annotations vs. Abstracts

Annotations in an annotated bibliography usually perform two functions, describe the source and evaluate the source. The annotation is a concise description of a particular source, including important aspects of content not evident in the title. It enables the researcher to establish the relevance of a specific journal article, book, research report, or government document, etc. and to decide whether to consult the full text of the work. Abstracts, such as those found in various periodical databases or those accompanying scholarly journal articles are usually just descriptive summaries.

Elements of an Annotation

Information found in an annotation may include:

1. purpose/scope:

"...sets out to place John Turner in eighteenth century England and show the development of his philosophy in relation to contemporary social mores";

2. audience and level of reading difficulty:

"Smith addresses himself to the scholar, albeit the concluding chapters on capital punishment will be clear to any informed layman";

3. bias or standpoint of author :

"Turner gears his study more to the romantic aspects of the age than the scientific and rational developments";

4. relationship to other works in the field: "Here Turner departs drastically from A. F. Johnson (Two will not, New York, Riposte Press, 1964) who not only has developed the rational themes of the eighteenth century but is convinced the romantic elements at best are only a skein through the major prose and poetry";

5. findings, results, and conclusions (if available)

Example 1*

Bennett, C.W., & Ling, D. (1977). Effects of voiced-voiceless discrimination training upon

articulation of hearing-impaired children. Language and Speech, 20(3), 287-293.

This article questions whether voiced-voiceless discrimination training will aid the articulation in hearing- impaired children. Six severely hearing-impaired children ranging from 8-10 years of age were the subjects. One group of 3 children received discrimination training on the /ba-pa/ distinction and the second group of 3 children received training on the /ba-pa/, /da-ta/, and /ga-ka/ distinctions. A vibro- tactile aid was used so the individuals could feel the voice onset time. Once the individual correctly distinguished between voiced and voiceless stops for a certain criterion, the vibro-tactile cue was reduced in intensity. The next step involved responding to voiced and voiceless syllables by producing them. The results showed that the training in audition alone does result in improved production. Subjects in the first group showed greater generalization perhaps due to the limited set in training. This may have helped the hearing-impaired children focus on the critical variable of voice onset time.

Example 2**

Battle, K. (2007). Child poverty: The evolution and impact of child benefits. In Covell, K., & Howe, R. B.

(Eds), A question of commitment: Children's rights in Canada (pp. 21-44). Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid

Laurier University Press.

Battle outlines some fundamental assumptions supporting the belief that all society members should contribute to the upbringing of children. His comparison of Canadian child poverty rates to those in other countries provides a useful analysis to anyone assuming Canadian society is doing a good job of protecting children from want. He pays particular attention to the National Child Benefit (NCB), arguing that it did not deserve the criticism it received from politicians and journalists. He outlines the NCB’s development, costs, and benefits, including its dollar contribution to a typical recipient’s income. He laments that the Conservative government scaled back the program in favor of the Universal Child Care Benefit (UCCB), and clearly explains why it is inferior. However, Battle 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 the perspectives of others' 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. *Schafer, M. (2014). Writing in psychology: Annotated bibliography.

http://web.clas.ufl.edu/users/msscha/psych/annotated_bib.html

** Brandon University. (2014). Creating an annotated bibliography.

http://libguides.brandonu.ca/content.php?pid=26571&sid=197586

All other information is from:

Lucy Scribner Library. (2014). Writing an annotated bibliography.

http://lib.skidmore.edu/library/index.php/li371-annotated-bib