Annotated Bibliography

1
Annotated Bibliography

• What is it?
• What it is NOT!
• What is the assignment?
• What are the sources?
• How do you recognize them?

2
What is it?

• An annotated bibliography is
• An organized list of sources or references on a
  particular topic usually a research topic
• Example of a source (citation)
• Zins,. C. (2007). Conceptual approaches for
  defining data, information, and knowledge.
  Journal of the American Society for Information
  Science Technology 58 (4),479-493.
• Correct citations are important because (1) they
  document and legitimize what you have found and
  (2) they make it easier for your eye to find
  specific items.

3
What is it?

• An annotated bibliography is
• An organized list of sources or references on a
  particular topic usually a research topic
• each of which is followed by a brief note or
  annotation

4
What is it?

• An annotated bibliography is
• An organized list of sources or references on a
  particular topic usually a research topic
• each of which is followed by a brief note or
  annotation
• Zins conducted an extensive Critical Delphi
  study to put the three fundamental concepts of
  information science into context. This researcher
  documented the definitional responses of 57
  leading scholars on these terms his personal
  response was that the terms are interrelated and
  depending on the circumstance work congruently.
  .

5
What it is NOT!

• An annotated bibliography is not
• A research paperthe emphasis of an AB is on
  sources of information about a topic, not the
  topic itself.
• A forum for taking a positionan AB topic
  statement that says I will show that only
  shows lack of understanding of the project!

6
What is it?

• The annotations do one or more of the following
• describe the content and focus of the source
• explain the relevance of the source to the
  research topic
• evaluate its method, conclusions, reliability
• record your reactions to the source

7
What is it?

• The annotations contain one or more of the
  following
• description tells what the source contains,
  e.g., chapter titles or topic headings

8
What is it?

• The annotations contain one or more of the
  following
• description tells what the source contains
• summary tells what the main findings are, e.g.,
  thesis statement, arguments or data, methodology,
  conclusions

9
What is it?

• The annotations contain one or more of the
  following
• description tells what the source contains
• summary tells what the main findings are
• evaluation tells what you think of the source,
  e.g., strengths and weaknesses

10
What is it?

• The annotations contain one or more of the
  following
• description tells what the source contains
• summary tells what the main findings are
• evaluation tells what you think of the source
• combination all of the above

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What is the upcoming assignment?

• Choose a research topic
• It must be academic in nature, scope, and
  substance

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What are the limits on the upcoming assignment?

• Academic means your topic and approach must be
  appropriate to a university
• You will have a chance to learn skills that you
  can use in other courses
• The materials available, e.g., in the Library and
  in most online databases, will be inherently
  academic.
• This rules out popular music, sports, hobbies,
  entertainment, fashion, and the like.
• NO PLAGIARISM. Annotations in your voice, your
  words

13
What is the upcoming assignment?

• Choose a research topic
• It must be academic in nature, scope, and
  substance.
• You may use this assignment to facilitate your
  work in another course.

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What do you hand in?

• BIG BOX (BoLC25) Tuesday, February 5
• A title (1-8 words)
• A 150- to 200-word description of the nature and
  scope and why you have chosen it
• Two key terms with definitions from OED Online
• Citation for one of the two key terms
• If the topic is related to another course, give
  the details course title, number, instructor,
  semester, nature of the work (e.g., term paper)

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Many AB assignments

• February 5 choice of topic
• February 5 April 10 preliminary work on 10 of
  the 10 sources (see next few slides, syllabus)
• May 6 finished Annotated Bibliography

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What are the sources?

• A book
• A reference entry in book format
• One reference source from online (needs to be an
  official reference source, not Wikipedia)
• 4/5.Two articles from scholarly journals from an
  online database
• 6. One article from a popular magazine/trade
  journal from an online database

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What are the sources?

• 7. One article/column from a newspaper from an
  online database
• 8. An authoritative Web page
• 9. A popular Web page (blog, wiki,)
• 10. A multimedia source (film, video, audio
  online or archival)

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Documentation for print sources (homework only)

• A book
• A reference source in book format
• Articles from two scholarly journals
• Article/column from an online database
  newspaper
• Photocopy of title must be submitted
• Photocopy of start of article(s) must be
  submitted

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The four types of media

• Print book, reference, scholarly journal,
  newspaper
• Online database scholarly journal, newspaper,
  general magazine
• Web authoritative, news, popular (Blog, wiki.)
• Multimedia (film, video, audio )

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The four types of media

• Print book, reference, scholarly journal,
  newspaper
• Online database scholarly journal, newspaper
• Web scholarly, news, popular (Blog, wiki, )
• Multimedia (film, video, audio )

21
How do you recognize sources?

• Distinguishing categories of sources
• Scholarly
• News
• Popular/Trade Journal
• Sensational

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Scholarly sources

• Academic look and feel
• May have tables or charts, but few pictures
• Sources are always cited
• Authors are researchers in the field
• The language assumes some background in the
  discipline(s) of the journal
• The purpose is to report research results.
• The research findings are peer-reviewed

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Examples of scholarly sources

• American Economic Review
• Journal of the American Medical Association
• Nature
• Modern Fiction Studies
• Journal of the American Psychological Association

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News

• Newspaper (broadsheet) format
• Heavily illustrated, usually with photographs
• Some sources may be cited, but usually not
• Authors are usually staffers or free-lancers
• The language is for a general audience
• The purpose is to provide information

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Examples of news

• New York Times
• Christian Science Monitor
• Times Union
• Boston Globe

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Popular sources

• Slick/attractive appearance
• Heavily illustrated photos, drawings
• Sources are rarely, if ever, cited
• Authors are almost never experts
• Articles are short, language is simple
• The purpose is entertainment

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Examples of popular sources

• Life
• People
• Readers Digest
• Sports Illustrated
• Time
• Vogue

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Examples of sensational sources

• Globe (NOT Boston Globe)
• National Examiner
• Star
• Half-Human, Half-Alien Teleports Self to
  Neptune
• Enough said.

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To evaluate periodicals

• see
• LaGuardia, C. (2006). Magazines for Libraries
• (14th Ed.). New York Bowker.
• (Ready REF/PN 4832 Z999 K37X )
• Ulrich's International Periodical Directory
• http//library.albany.edu/databases/libresre.asp?r
  esourceid535

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To evaluate online sources

• see
• Radford, M.L., Barnes, S.B., Barr, L.R. (2006).
  Web research Selecting, evaluating, and citing.
  Boston, MA  Pearson/Allyn and Bacon.