The next assignment is the annotated bibliography.

For this writing assignment, we begin organizing possible sources for the Analytical Report. You will want to read the instructions for the final analytical report so that you have an idea of what types of topics to consider for the annotated bibliography.

You have completed various exercises in using OneSearch, a gateway through which you can find quality articles in the databases to which UMUC subscribes.

For this assignment, you will write an annotated bibliography of four sources. All four sources should be acquired through OneSearch. They should come from scholarly journals or trade journals.

Annotated bibliographies are written for various classes for different reasons. One reason for writing an annotated bibliography is to help you organize research you have begun for a paper.

You will prepare to write the annotated bibliography by completing the following steps:

• Consider a topic for your final report. Please refer to the instructions for the final report for more information on topics to consider.
• Peruse through different sources that could inform the paper on that topic. You will want to consider many sources as you navigate the OneSearch interface.
• Select four of the sources you have found.

You will then write the annotated bibliography as follows:

• cite each article in APA format
• summarize each article in 100-150 words.
• write a one- or two-sentence evaluation at the end of the annotation explaining why this source might be helpful to you for your analytical report.
• list each reference (followed by its annotation) in alphabetical order.

Keep in mind that, when you eventually write your analytical report, you don't have to use every source you annotate for your annotated bibliography in that report. You might find that, as you find more sources and consider your topic more thoroughly, you don't use several of the sources you annotated. This outcome is not a problem. The purpose of writing the annotated bibliography is to help get you started on locating sources and allow you to begin analyzing and summarizing them.

Strategies to Consider for this Assignment:

• UMUC's Information and Library Services unit provides a tutorial on how to write an annotation of a source.
• The transcript of the tutorial can be accessed by clicking here.

The following are some links to sample Annotated Bibliographies. Some of them give examples in APA format. You may want to observe these examples and perhaps model your work after them.

• A variety of samples from The University of North Carolina Writing Center
• Some instruction from Cornell University. The website also provides more information on the process of writing an annotated bibliography.
• The Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) provides three sample annotations. The second one on the site is an annotation in APA format.
• The Lucy Scribner Library at Skidmore College provides excellent tips and suggestions for writing an annotated bibliography. Please note that the sample annotations provided are not in APA format.
• Some instruction from East Carolina University.

Length:

The annotation for each article should be 100-150 words.