Mini-Annotated Bibliography
The first part of your research will be compiling a formatted list of the sources you believe you will use to learn about your topic. This list of sources is called a bibliography. You probably have some experience with writing bibliographies—either using a site such as NoodleTools, or on your own. You probably have turned in a bibliography with previous research papers. You will do the same with this paper, but you will also compile an annotated bibliography before you begin your research in earnest.
The annotated bibliography is not only a formatted list of your sources; it also contains an explanation of (1.) what the source is, (2.) what its biases might be, and (3.) what value it might have for your particular project. That is to say, it contains:
- A summary of the source
- An evaluation of the text
- An analysis of its applicability
The purpose of the annotated bibliography is to help you comprehend and understand your sources and the role they will play, and to demonstrate to other researchers (and your teacher) that you have collected and evaluated the sources.
As you advance in your academic career, your annotated bibliographies will be longer and more detailed, but for this paper you need only write three or four sentences for each source. Here is an example:
Ehrenreich, B. (2001). Nickel and dimed: On (not) getting by in America. New York: Henry Holt and Company.
Nickel and Dimed is a journalist’s examination of what it’s like to live on minimum wage in America. Ehrenreich takes several different minimum wage jobs over the course of a year and writes about the challenges she faces. She backs up her reflections with economic research and data. Because she has experienced these jobs herself, Ehrenreich may be emotional in her conclusions, and may rely too heavily on anecdotes and stories rather than facts. I plan to mine the “data” she presents, and occasionally use quotes from her descriptions of her experiences to help summarize my point of view on poverty in America.
You will produce an entry such as this for each of your sources.
What You’ll Do and When
Your annotated bibliography is due Friday, March 9. It should contain the correctly formatted bibliographic entry for at least four sources. Remember that at least two of those sources should be tangible (i.e.- you can hold it in your hand) print sources. Each source should include an annotation of 3-5 sentences that summarizes the source, evaluates it for potential bias, and judges whether it will be applicable and in what ways.