What is an annotated bibliography? Basically, a bibliography is a list of sources (books, journal articles, Web sites, periodicals, newspaper articles, etc.) that an individual uses in writing a research paper. However, an annotated bibliography is a summary/evaluation of these sources.

For this first project, you will compose a 3 page annotated bibliography (double-spaced)
of 6-7 relevant sources on a science topic of your choice. Note that this annotated
bibliography serves as the foundation to your final research project. Thus, you should
relate this project to your final project (see below). The primary purposes of this project
are three-fold:

 To give you an opportunity to investigate a science issue that is of particular interest
to you

 To help you have a good foundation for your final project and

 To help you become familiar with the existing literature or research on scientific
Before you begin your research on this project, think of an issue that is of interest to you
(i.e. science and technology, plagiarism, ethics in science writing and reporting, scientific
style and social responsibility, privacy, etc.). Writing on an issue that is of real interest to
you will motivate you to want to find out more about that issue. After you have decided on
a specific issue, you will look for articles in peer-reviewed science journals
(http://highwire.stanford.edu/top/journals.dtl) that address your topic, and then you will
write an annotated bibliography drawing from these articles. The UHD database can point
you to such articles in these journals.

What is an annotated bibliography?
Basically, a bibliography is a list of sources (books, journal articles, Web sites, periodicals,
newspaper articles, etc.) that an individual uses in writing a research paper. However, an
annotated bibliography is a summary/evaluation of these sources. 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:

1. 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.

2. 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?

3. 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? (Credit:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/614/01).
4.

5. For this assignment, you will both summarize and evaluate the purpose and
argument within the article. Your annotation for each source (i.e.) must be written
in the form of a paragraph. Remember to cite sources both in-text and at the end of
the annotation using APA consistently. For help with citing sources
appropriately, visit: http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/resdoc5e/. More so, for
additional assistance on an annotated bibliography visit:
http://olinuris.library.cornell.edu/ref/research/skill28.htm or
http://lib.calpoly.edu/research/guides/bibliography.html or
http://www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice/specific-types-of-writing/annotatedbibliography