How to Write an Annotated Bibliography FYSM 1101 Location is Everything February 25, 2015

What is an annotated bibliography? It is a list of reference materials such as books, journal articles and websites (bibliography) For each item in the list, there is a short, critical review (annotation) When creating the list, you need to provide the author, title and publication details of each item (citation)

What are Annotations ? Annotations summarize and critique the material in your list They are typically 150 – 200 words in length They are arranged in alphabetical order according to Author

What is their purpose ? Commentary on a particular topic Critical analysis and relevance Introduces a newcomer to the issues on a topic An exercise to familiarize students to a topic Helps student to formulate a thesis statement or argument

What do Annotations include ? Authority (or credibility) of the author A summary of the focus of article (central argument) Statement of the main points Basis of analysis Comparison of the research with other research you may have read Strengths and weakness of the article Why or how the article relates to your research

An Annotation …. … is ‘not’ just a synopsis. … is ‘not’ an abstract that is plagiarized from an online database. You must read each article carefully. You must write your own annotations.

Sample Annotation Begin with citation 196 words in length Highlighted sentences represent authority, summary, analysis and usefulness

MacKerron, George and Mourato, Susana. “Happiness is greater in natural environments.” Global Environmental Change, 23 (2013), In the UK, G. MacKerron, a professor at the Bartlett Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis, and his colleague, S. Mourato, professor at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment link nature and subjective well-being through a unique primary research technique using GPS data and a smart phone app. In their study they provide evidence that 20,000 participants were significantly happier in natural environments than those in urban environments. This paper addresses improvements in understanding ‘momentary’ experiences by individuals instead of relying on retrospective evaluations. The basis of their analysis relied upon sampling methods using a “Mappiness” app designed for Apple devices which ‘beeped’ at random moments during the daily lives of participants at which point they were asked a series of questions. The data was collected via encrypted GPS. Several controls were developed so that responses could not be tampered with, and econometric models provided descriptive statistics of all the outdoor variables. This research is important to me as I investigate the effects of government policy concerning the preservation of natural environments, and the positive or negative effects of environmental programs such as contaminated site clean-up, conservation awareness, and other environmental hazards.

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