Why do professors make students complete an annotated bibliography? To give students a hard time and task-master them to death? No, of course not. It’s not just an assignment in and of itself; it is an important step in the research process. Your first stage was choosing a topic and doing some tentative research. Now you are going to find several relevant sources and provided a summary and evaluation of them. This is the topic you chose in Module 3, and this work will culminate in your final research project in Module 7.

An annotated bibliography is a listing of sources compiled from research that you will use in your completed essay. However, the “annotated” part shows that it is not only a list, but an elaboration and evaluation of your sources – that is, you express, in a paragraph, two things: that you understand and can encapsulate the source and that your source is relevant to your topic and approach. Your reading for this module includes a guide to annotated bibliographies. Be sure that you have read the information at that link before you proceed.

This activity aligns with course outcome 3.

Requirements

You need to research and compile a total of ten sources. Once you have located and evaluated relevant articles, books, web sources, etc., and decided that they support your topic and tentative thesis or approach, then you need to create your annotated bibliography.

First, cite the source in APA style. (Your annotated bibliography tutorial offers an example that you can follow.) Your sources should be listed in alphabetical order (as they will be on your “References” page in your completed essay).

Having read and sought to understand the source, in a paragraph (below the citation) summarize the central ideas and offer an evaluation that looks at the following. The most important is the fourth bullet:

• the credentials, expertise, or background of the writer
• the audience for the source (as best as you can gauge)
• how it is similar or different from another work or works on your list
• how this source relates to and supports and develops your own topic and approach

This course uses the American Psychological Association (APA) format for scholarly writing. References and citations must adhere to the proper format for all written work presented including essays, discussion postings, and essay exams. Your research should be documented by citing one or more credible sources such as the course readings and videos, scholarly articles and books, or educational websites. Wikipedia and any similar online reference sites where the content may be authored by anyone are not considered credible sources for scholarly writing.