Annotated Bibliography Help Sheet Page 1 of 4 02 February 2017 KING’S OWN INSTITUTE* Success in Higher Education Annotated bibliography help sheet (Source: The information in this help sheet has been derived and adapted from various sources including The University of New England - ‘Writing an annotated bibliography’ and the University of Adelaide ‘Writing Article Reviews & Annotated Bibliographies’) What is an annotated bibliography? An annotated bibliography is a list of citations (or references) to books, articles, website pages and documents of the available research on a given topic. Each citation is followed by a brief summary of content and a short analysis or evaluation, the annotation (about 100 - 160 words). The purpose of the annotation is to inform the reader of the relevance, accuracy, and quality of the sources cited. Purpose of an annotated bibliography An annotated bibliography may be given as a stand-alone assessment (as in Assessment 2 of BUS100), or as part (usually the first part) of a full research assessment Depending on your specific assignment, the purpose of an annotated bibliography may be to:  review the literature of a particular subject;  demonstrate the quality and depth of reading that you have done;  show the scope of sources available—such as journals, books, web sites and magazine articles;  highlight sources that may be of interest to other readers and researchers;  explore and organise sources for further research. When set as an assignment, such as in Assignment 1 in BUS100 Professional Communication Skill, an annotated bibliography allows you to:  develop research skills  become acquainted with the material available on a particular topic  practice your referencing  develop an ability to identify good from poor sources  summarise information concisely. All these skills are essential to academic success and will allow you to present reasoned and justified responses in professional life. As part of a larger assignment, a good annotated bibliography:  encourages you to think critically about the content of the works you are using, their place within a field of study, and their relation to your own research and ideas  proves you have read and understand your sources  establishes your work as a valid source and you as a competent researcher  situates your study and topic in a continuing professional conversation  provides a way for others to decide whether a source will be helpful to their research if they read it  could help interested researchers determine whether they are interested in a topic by providing background information and an idea of the kind of work going on in a field. How do you write an annotated bibliography? There are two main sections to each annotated bibliography entry: 1. The bibliographic information (the reference or citation). 2. The explanatory paragraphs (the annotation), which provide one or more of the following elements depending on your assessment requirements: • a summary of the main arguments or ideas presented by the author • a critique or evaluation of the source’s usefulness, reliability, objectivity or bias, and a comparison with other sources • a reflection on how the source fits into your research (this would be required if the annotated bibliography was part of a larger research assignment).Annotated Bibliography Help Sheet Page 2 of 4 02 February 2017 KING’S OWN INSTITUTE* Success in Higher Education Contents of an annotated bibliography may include (in very brief summary form):  Citation  Introduction  Aims and research methods  Usefulness to your research (if part of a larger assignment)  Limitations  Conclusions  Reflection (is it really worth using - to what extent e.g. primary support for your research point or more a contributing guide to future research). Words or phrases to describe the content of a text in clear, concise and appropriately formal language: argues that... focuses on... discusses... is an introduction to... examines... treats the topic of... considers... begins with... explores... concentrates on... covers the issue of... concludes with... It is also important to express your overall response to a text. This may be positive or negative. Words or phrases to describe your response to a text might include: Positive Negative Thorough Extensive research Uninspiring Incoherent Authoritative Informative Limited Repetitive Influential Comprehensive Of little value Superficial Some useful sentence starters:  For the author’s viewpoint o In this article, Johnson reviews . . . o This article examines . . . o The authors describe . . . o The author’s purpose is to challenge . . .  For a summary of the research findings, theory or argument o The main ideas expressed are . . . o Support for these claims is documented . . . o Smith has conducted a thorough investigation of . . . o The author’s research focuses on . . .  For comments on the usefulness and/or limitations (suitability) for your research or to support your discussion o The author provides a strong theoretical . . . o The writing style considers a range of audiences . . . o Theories are supported by well-known researchers in this field, such as . . . o There is a lack of supporting evidence . . . o The main limitation of the website . . .  For your evaluative comment(s) o This article is useful for my research topic . . . o Because the information is up-to-date and from a reliable source . . . o It is relevant to my argument because . . . o In particular, this article will assist . . . Structure of an annotated bibliography. For the purposes of Assignment 2 of BUS100 Professional Communication Skills, the sources you present in your annotated bibliography should be:  Have a heading as given in your assignment description  Be presented in alphabetical order according to the (first) author’s name  Have a 1 line space between the Source heading, the citation, the summary paragraph and the evaluation paragraphAnnotated Bibliography Help Sheet Page 3 of 4 02 February 2017 KING’S OWN INSTITUTE* Success in Higher Education An example of an annotated bibliography set out as required for Assessment 2 of BUS100 Professional Communication Skills is contained in the following section. Please note the sources used in the example cannot be used in your assessment as they are on a completely different topic. Examples of entries from an annotated bibliography In the sample annotations below, each element is numbered (see Keys attached - do not include the numbers or keys in your assignment). The way they should be presented in your assignment is set out below the 2 examples. (1) Trevor, C.O., Lansford, B. and Black, J.W., 2004, ‘Employee turnover and job performance: monitoring the influences of salary growth and promotion’, Journal of Armchair Psychology, vol 113, no.1, pp. 56-64. (2) Trevor et al. review the influences of pay and job opportunities in respect to job performance, turnover rates and employee motivation.(3) The authors use data gained through organisational surveys of blue-chip companies in Vancouver, Canada to try to identify the main causes of employee turnover and whether it is linked to salary growth.(4) Their research focuses on assessing a range of pay structures such as pay for performance and organisational reward schemes. (5) Although the article is a little old (2004) and is based on Canadian research, many factors appear to be relevant to current Australian business conditions. (6) The main limitation of the article is that the survey sample was restricted to mid-level management,(7) so more extensive, research needs to be undertaken to get a better understanding of employee turnover and job performance.(8) This article will not form the basis of my research; however it will be useful supplementary information for my research on pay structures. Key (1) Citation (2) Introduction (3) Aims & Research methods (4) Scope (5) Usefulness (to your research/ to a particular topic) (6) Limitations (7) Conclusions (8) Reflection (explain how this work illuminates your topic or how it will fit in with your research) Citation Summary Evaluation Examples presented as per Assignment presentation requirements: Source 1: Employee turnover and job performance: monitoring the influences of salary growth and promotion, peer-reviewed journal article. Trevor, C.O., Lansford, B. and Black, J.W., 2004, ‘Employee turnover and job performance: monitoring the influences of salary growth and promotion’, Journal of Armchair Psychology, vol 113, no.1, pp. 56- 64. McFarlane, J.K. (1973). Standards of care—what do we mean by care? Nursing Mirror. 143(23), 40–42. The article examines the meaning of the word ‘care’ within a nursing context. The responsibility of nurses to provide care is legitimised in numerous documents, and the author goes on to identify key concepts related to nursing care. In particular, these concepts include assisting, helping and giving a service; offering this service to people who need help with daily living activities and to others who are affected illness of some kind. While the source is credible, the main limitations of the article are that all of the research was exclusively conducted in large UK city hospitals and the article ic very old. Therefore, while the article is useful for an analysis of nursing care, the limitations of the article and its research base will require some adaption to meet the needs of this assignment that requires a commentary on services in both city and country area hospitals in Australia.Annotated Bibliography Help Sheet Page 4 of 4 02 February 2017 KING’S OWN INSTITUTE* Success in Higher Education Trevor et al. review the influences of pay and job opportunities in respect to job performance, turnover rates and employee motivation. The authors use data gained through organisational surveys of bluechip companies in Vancouver, Canada to try to identify the main causes of employee turnover and whether it is linked to salary growth. Their research focuses on assessing a range of pay structures such as pay for performance and organisational reward schemes. Although the article is a little old (2004) and is based on Canadian research, many factors appear to be relevant to current Australian business conditions. The main limitation of the article is that the survey sample was restricted to mid-level management, so more extensive, research needs to be undertaken to get a better understanding of employee turnover and job performance. This article will not form the basis of my research; however it will be useful supplementary information for my research on pay structures. Source 2: Standards of care - what do we mean by care?, industry magazine. McFarlane, J.K. (1973). Standards of care—what do we mean by care? Nursing Mirror. 143(23), 40– 42. The article examines the meaning of the word ‘care’ within a nursing context. The responsibility of nurses to provide care is legitimised in numerous documents, and the author goes on to identify key concepts related to nursing care. In particular, these concepts include assisting, helping and giving a service; offering this service to people who need help with daily living activities and to others who are affected illness of some kind. While the source is reasonably credible, the main limitations of the article are that all of the research was exclusively conducted in large UK city hospitals and the article is very old. Therefore, while the article is useful for an analysis of nursing care, the limitations of the article and its research base will require some adaption to meet the needs of this assignment that requires a commentary on services in both city and country area hospitals in Australia. Useful links for Annotated Bibliographies The following web resources provide further information and have been used as a basis for the construction of this guide. http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/research/skill28.htm http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/614/01/ http://student.unsw.edu.au/annotated-bibliography https://www.griffith.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/403765/annotated-bibliography.pdf ): Where do you find out more information about referencing? KOI has adopted the Harvard (Anglia) form of referencing. More information and guides on how to format references using this form of referencing can be found in the Student Information Centre in Moodle, with quick links on the right hand side of the Moodle Home Page.