Annotated Bibliography Assignment

Description:

An annotated bibliography is an organized list of sources, each of which is followed by a brief note or “annotation.”

These annotations do one or more of the following:

  • describe the content and focus of the book or article
  • suggest the source’s usefulness to your research
  • evaluate its method, conclusions, or reliability
  • record your reactions to the source.

For this assignment, you will write a brief (3-5-page min. suggested) annotated bibliography based on a topic of your choice. That is about 7-10 annotated bibs. The topic must be relevant to the Events Industry. An example would be, “Corporate Social Responsibility in the Event Industry”. Another example would be “The impacts and legacies of sporting events” …. Another “What does the future hold for the Events Industry- Post Covid”. Be original. Research what you are interested in. Look into the sector of the industry you want to work in the future.

Purpose:

The purpose of this assignment is to:

  • Locate and evaluate source information
  • Demonstrate proper citation procedures for bibliographical citations
  • Explore possible resources/evidence/examples relevant to your industry
  • Familiarize yourself with the various research techniques, methods, and sources available to you
  • In all, I want you to understand what is happening within your field of study and where the industry is going.

Process:

1) Locate Possible Sources.

2) Create the Citations: You will cite all of your sources using the proper citation format, as dictated by your field of study. That means APA style. Your bibliography needs to have one complete citation per source.

3) Create Your Annotation: Remember your goal is simply to “note” the relevant information in the source (it is not meant to be a substitute for the actual text, or more extensive research) [note: remember, you want to focus on the information that is different/unique from the rest of the other sources you are using (i.e. all of your sources will, in some way, deal with your topic; however, you want to focus on the specific information that makes that particular text helpful – this could be a specific set of statistics, a unique/particular point of view, a focus on a particular/unique aspect/area, etc. that the other sources you choose do not cover or cover in a different way]. Choose one of the following approaches when writing your annotations.

Informative

  • Simply put, this form of annotation is a summary of the source.
  • To write it, begin by writing the thesis; then develop it with the argument or hypothesis, list the proofs, and state the conclusion.

Evaluative

  • In this form of annotation, you need to assess the source’s strengths and weaknesses.
  • You get to say why the source is interesting or helpful to you, or why it is not. In doing this you should list what kind of and how much information is given; in short, evaluate the source’s usefulness.

Each entry should be written in one of the following format (paragraphs):

Paragraph

When using this form of annotation, you must write a full, coherent paragraph.

Sometimes this can be similar to the form of a bibliographic essay. It goes without saying that you need to use complete sentences.

Paragraph (a little more formal)- Example

Voeltz, L.M. (1980). Children’s attitudes toward

     handicapped peers. American Journal of Mental

     Deficiency, 84, 455-464.

As services for severely handicapped children become

increasingly available within neighborhood public schools,

children’s attitudes toward handicapped peers in integrated

settings warrant attention. Factor analysis of attitude

survey responses of 2,392 children revealed four factors

underlying attitudes toward handicapped peers: social-

contact willingness, deviance consequation, and two actual

contact dimensions. Upper elementary-age children, girls,

and children in schools with most contact with severely

handicapped peers expressed the most accepting attitudes.

Results of this study suggest the modifiability of

children’s attitudes and the need to develop interventions

to facilitate social acceptance of individual differences

in integrated school settings.

(Sternlicht and Windholz, 1984, p. 79)

Assignment Criteria:

  • Your Annotated Bibliography must contain a minimumof seven citations You should include at least the minimum number of sources for each source type (e.g. you need to include at least 3 Academic Journal Articles)
  • All sources must be on you pre-selected topic [Note: rarely will you find the “perfect” source, the one that deals specifically with your exact topic/viewpoint/etc. It is perfectly acceptable – in fact necessary – for you to find various sources each dealing with only one aspect of your overall issue/argument. Additionally, please do not rule out sources that offer parallel informationto the information you are seeking (e.g. an essay that offers statistical data for a different geographical region than the one you are seeking information for, but you are able to draw from their similar circumstances—note, this can be tricky, because you will eventually have to defend how you feel these circumstance are indeed similar enough for the data to be considered relevant)].
  • It may be to your advantageto include sources from the opposing view (i.e. goes against what you are arguing)
  • You may use no more than twocitations for any one source (e.g. You cannot use two articles from any one text, particular web sites, etc). [Note: part of the reasoning behind this assignment is to help you familiarize yourself with all of the different potential sources for information out there. Increasingly, in this modern technological age, students are reluctant—whether this is a matter of convenience, unfamiliarity, or some other reason—to seek out information from/in mediums other than what is accessible through their personal computer. This assignment, in some ways, is designed to force you to explore other options (e.g. to force you to go into the library). Additionally, this requirement is meant to encourage you to explore multiple/various view-points (including view-points that may be contrary to your own) on any given issue/point (i.e. this is your opportunity explore those “complicating”/”problematizing” aspects of the issue you are researching. Very little, if anything, in academia has only one point of view, you should strive to discover/understand what these multiple view-points are].
  • Your sources should be of an academic nature (scholarly sources) [Note: if you wish to use information that is not from what is generally considered a “scholarly source” (WikiPedia or various manufacture/organization web-sites comes to mind), you must clearly indicate that the information/source is of a possibly dubious/questionable/potentially biased nature].
  • You should summarize the entire article from the World Wide Web sources, not just a single page (e.g. the home-page)