T HE A NNOTATED B IBLIOGRAPHY P ROJECT : BSC L IBRARY O VERVIEW

A N A NNO -W HAT ? An Annotated Bibliography sounds a lot more intimidating than it actually is: Bibliography=list of sources Annotated=with notes

H ERE ’ S WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO : 1. Think of a research question. 2. Find seven sources (one book, three database journal articles, and three websites). 3. Cite your sources in APA or MLA format and alphabetize them. 4. Write a description, evaluation and reflection for each source.

STEP ONE: D ECIDE ON Y OUR R ESEARCH Q UESTION You don’t want to pick something reallyBROAD-- You will be overwhelmed with information! Be specific. Narrow it down. Also be aware that if you pick a current event, there may not be many articles or books written specifically on that topic yet. If you are having trouble, ask your instructor or the Librarian for help.

STEP TWO: F IND A B OOK Use the library catalog, located on the BSC Library webpage under “Find A Book”“Find A Book” If you don’t have a specific title in mind, try searching by “all words”all words If you can’t find a book that focuses solely on your topic, it’s okay to use a book that focuses on your topic in one section or a few chapters. If you can’t find any books on your topic, try your local public library, or you can request a book through inter-library loan.

S TEP THREE : FIND THREE ARTICLES USING THE LIBRARY DATABASES There are many to choose from…

U SING THE DATABASES : SOME TIPS If you only want to see articles with full-text availability, select the “full-text” optionselect the “full-text” option To limit your results to journal articles (and not newspapers and magazines), select the “peer- reviewed” or “scholarly journal articles” option“peer- reviewed” Every database (except Lexis and JSTOR) will generate a citation for you! generate a citation for you Remember to click on the remote access link when you are using the databases off-campus!remote access link

STEP FOUR: F IND THREE WEBSITES Try limiting your results by domain name ex: Type II diabetes and teenagers site:.gov You can use the ~ sign to get synonyms for a word in your search results ex: ~death penalty will give you results for capital punishment, too Always evaluate websites for credibility of the author/organization, purpose of the site, and date updated!

STEP FIVE: CITE YOUR SOURCES

STEP SIX: W RITE Y OUR A NNOTATIONS Each source must have a DESCRIPTION, EVALUATION, and REFLECTION. Each annotation needs to be words long. See the Library’s handout for some ideas on what you could include in your annotations.Library’s handout

T HAT ’ S ALL THERE IS TO IT ! Please contact the Library if you need help: Stop by the Library!