FRS 197: Information Power Unleashed 

Prepare an annotated bibliography (Cornell University)

Annotated Bibliographies: Content (University of Wisconsin) - see Informative - sample

Waite, L. J., Goldschneider, F. K., & Witsberger, C. (1986). Nonfamily living and

the erosion of traditional family orientations among young adults. American Sociological Review, 51, 541-554.

The authors, researchers at the Rand Corporation and Brown University, use data from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Young Women and Young Men to test their hypothesis that nonfamily living by young adults alters their attitudes, values, plans, and expectations, moving them away from their belief in traditional sex roles. They find their hypothesis strongly supported in young females, while the effects were fewer in studies of young males. Increasing the time away from parents before marrying increased individualism, self-sufficiency, and changes in attitudes about families. In contrast, an earlier study by Williams cited below shows no significant gender differences in sex role attitudes as a result of nonfamily living.

This example uses the MLA format for the journal citation. NOTE: Standard MLA practice requires double spacing within citations.

Waite, Linda J., Frances Kobrin Goldscheider, and Christina Witsberger. "Nonfamily Living and

the Erosion of Traditional Family Orientations Among Young Adults." American Sociological Review 51 (1986): 541-554.

The authors, researchers at the Rand Corporation and Brown University, use data from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Young Women and Young Men to test their hypothesis that nonfamily living by young adults alters their attitudes, values, plans, and expectations, moving them away from their belief in traditional sex roles. They find their hypothesis strongly supported in young females, while the effects were fewer in studies of young males. Increasing the time away from parents before marrying increased individualism, self-sufficiency, and changes in attitudes about families. In contrast, an earlier study by Williams cited below shows no significant gender differences in sex role attitudes as a result of nonfamily living.

 ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

The process:

1.      Print the basic information for every required source. Make sure each source meets all the criteria.

2.      If you are obtaining the source from a database, like Academic Search Premier, that will format the citation in APA citation style (the style you must use), then email it to yourself for cut/paste.

3.      Create your Word document with 1” margins and type in the header and each type of source. Bold the type of source, such as Books: Remember, when writing anything on a computer…save, save, save…every 10 minutes. If you don’t you WILL eventually lose a paper. Backup by emailing the file to yourself before you log off.

4.      Start adding your sources in APA style, but don’t worry yet about the format. Just get the content in there.

5.      Once all your sources have been inserted, go back and use the Duke University site to check your style. I’m not picky and Word can be a pain about indenting. Just make sure that you indent the second line 4 spaces. Also, no matter what Duke says, I want the URL (web address) for any online sources.

6.      Write at least a 3-sentence summary or annotation following each citation. The summary needs to accurately describe the contents of the source. If it does not truly describe the source of is very general it will do the user no good and will not qualify as a good annotation.

7.      Use Spell Check and have someone else proof it for spelling, spacing, etc. Usually the writer is the worst proof-reader.

Why a bibliography?

They are very useful to researchers. They connect the user to other sources, which in turn provide yet more resources. You should be using bibliographies at the end of books and articles. They can save you a lot of time.

Why annotations?

Annotations have to be descriptive and accurate. If they are neither then they do the user no good at best and can waste a huge amount of time at worst. Note the very brief, but useful, annotations at the end of each CQ Researcher report. They provide a quick idea of the usefulness of each source and save you time.

You don’t understand something or can’t find what you need?

See me. I don’t expect you know everything and I will give you all the help you need to get a good grade.

Assignment: Get those bibliographies done!