Creating an annotated bibliography calls for the application of a variety of intellectual skills, including the ability to conduct academic research, and the ability to analyze and clearly articulate the main purposes/findings of a source in approximately one page.
Here are the steps involved in conducting an annotated bibliography:
Locate and record citations to periodicals/journals that may contain useful information.
Briefly examine and review the articles (note: there is no need to read the literature review section as you are ONLY to discuss the hypotheses and findings of the current article).
Cite the articles using proper APA citation style.
Write a concise annotation that summarizes the central theme and findings of the article. Include only directly significant information and write in an efficient manner. Each annotation should be one paragraph of approximately 200-300 words in length!
You MUST address the bolded questions below in each annotation::
Identify TWO of the author’s hypotheses. (statement the author is testing or the central claim of the article). Must be stated in proper hypothesis format, with one independent and one dependent variable. Both the introduction and the conclusion can help you with this task. Ask yourself: what is the main point of the article? What ideas/evidence are used to support the authors position?
Identify the population the author is studying. What is the age range of the individuals involved? Where are they located? What is their gender? Race? Income?
Identify the method(s) used to investigate the problem(s). A survey? What type of survey? Phone survey? Mail survey? An experiment? Participant observation? Is this type of research descriptive, exploratory, explanatory? How were participants recruited for this study? Here you should explain the methodology of the study. Pay attention to the opening sentence(s) of each paragraph, where authors often state concisely their main point.
Identify the major findings of the research. Look for paragraphs that summarize the argument ~ this may be included in the discussion or findings of the article.
