Annotated Bibliography
As any student likely knows, the process of constructing works cited and bibliographies is indeed very common by the time that one gets to college, or whatever higher institution of learning he or she may choose. However, sometimes a simple works cited is not the best way to understand and gather your sources before research. Sometimes, it is best to use a method that is known as an annotated bibliography.
An annotated bibliography is constructing in much the same way as a regularly bibliography. We create the proper citation, whether it be MLA or APA, and then we simply space down and write a summary. However, the goal here is to write a small summary in two parts. For the first part, we want to write about a paragraph detailing the source …show more content…
and what it is. The second part is simply another paragraph. However. In this paragraph, we attempt to write what component of our paper we will use the source for, and how it will be beneficial.
As can easily be guessed, there are many benefits to constructing a bibliography in this way. When we put out summaries and detail how we are going to use a source, we make it much easier to organize what we are doing. Instead of sifting through source after source and spending large amounts of time trying to piece together different information, we can simply reference the annotated bibliography, knowing precisely where each piece of information is and how it can be used to aid us in our research.
Of course, creating an annotated bibliography can be sort of a strange idea at first, after one has become very used to writing works cited in the traditional way. With that in mind, here is an example of how to write an annotated bibliography simply and effectively:
"Edward Roscoe Murrow." Encyclopedia of World Biography 2nd ed. 17 vols. Biography Resource Center. Gale. Rohrbach Lib., Kutztown U. 21 Mar. 2008 .
The author begins by telling about Edward Murrow's most prominent accomplishment in the radio and television new broadcasting. Then the author tells about Murrow's early years of his life. Then the author talks about the beginning of Murrow's career at CBS. The article delves into detail about Murrow's broadcast that made him a common household name around the world. Then the author describes his television career with See It Now and Person to Person. The article concludes discussing the widespread nature of television commercialism and its need to push news broadcasting off the air. The article describes his initial ill health causing him to retire and passed away shortly after in 1965.
The article offers a brief precise description of Edward Roscoe Murrow's life. The author manages to gives least bit of detail possible while still revealing the high points of Murrow's life. The article is a great source to skim the surface about Murrow's life. Yet, the article lacks the ability to delve into Murrow's true accomplishments with the respect and intricate detail they deserve. (Example Credited: Kristin Cornish)
Remember that in actual bibliography, you are going to want to use double spacing both for the citation and for the paragraphs. With a little time and a little bit of practice, we can learn to construct these very helpful and fairly simple annotated bibliographies, and the benefits that at they can give us for researching and writing a paper is incredibly pronounced.
Most freelance writers realize the value of research-without it, where would we get out information? Almost all writing projects require at least some research, if only to check out a fact on the Internet, but paper-based research takes a little bit of extra finesse. When you're using books and paper-based resources for your writing, you'll need a system for keeping track of it all.
Organization is important with any writing project, from a 500-word article to a 90,000-word book. If you can't keep track of your paper-based research, then how can you hope to keep your writing organized? When you're working on a freelance writing project, it's best to have an organizational system.
First, you'll need an area in which to keep track of all of your paper-based research. Simply using your entire office as an "area" won't work; you need a section devoted entirely to your freelance writing project. There are a number of ways in which this can be accomplished.
Some freelance writers prefer to keep track of their paper-based research in a filing cabinet. They label their file folders with different types of research and stow all of their articles, books and printed materials there. The downside to filing everything is that some books won't fit in regular hanging files, and you'll wind up with piles of overflowing research.
The second option for keeping track of paper-based research is to purchase a rolling cart. You can find them at Wal-Mart or Target in plastic for less than $25, or a nicer wooden cart for less than $100. The best rolling carts have three or four drawers as well as a flat surface on top.
You can either label your rolling cart drawers or use them as the need arises, but they're far more practical than hanging files. You can store large books, hefty files or even office supplies and the drawers provide easy grab-and-go access.
Once you've established an area for keeping track of your paper-based research, you'll need a way to find important documents quickly. There's nothing worse than coming to a point in your work where you need to reference a book or print-out and having to search through piles of paper-based research to find it.
First, small black binder clips work great for separating papers in a file folder or even pages in a book. You can easily flip to the most important sections, and binder clips are not easily lost or bent like paper clips.
You'll probably also want to invest in a set of multi-colored highlighters as well as several pads of Post-It notes. These allow you to carefully mark pages in a book or stack of papers.
And finally, when freelance writers use paper-based research, they usually have to cite their sources at the end of the piece. Since you'll have all of your paper-based research organized in your hanging files or rolling cart, you can easily mark down the resources you need to site. Keep a yellow legal pad or a small spiral notebook in your drawers so you can jot down the source as you're moving along. That way, you don't have to pause in the middle of your freelance writing project to type up a bibliography.
Once you come up with a way to effectively keep track of your paper-based research, your freelance writing career will become far less of a hassle.
Do you feel overwhelmed by your latest research paper assignment? Here are 6 easy tips that will ensure that you ace all of those pesky research assignments in both college and high school.
1. Discuss your thesis sentence (hypothesis) and your research ideas with your professor or teacher.
Once you have decided on the thesis statement (hypothesis) that you intend to support using research, talk to your instructor.
By discussing your hypothesis, as well as research ideas, with your professor, you can get a better feel for what he or she is looking for in the project. If you will be too overwhelmed trying to support a thesis statement that is too broad, he or she will be the first to let you know. By getting the initial approval of your instructor, you will ensure that you are off to a good start.
2. Do your research first.
After getting the initial approval from your teacher or professor, you are ready to dive into the research. There is almost too much information out there these days. When completing the research, be sure that you are using valid, preferably peer-reviewed sources. There is a lot of unreliable information on-line, although that certainly doesn't mean that you can't use on-line resources.
3. Ensure that your research supports your thesis sentence …show more content…
(hypothesis).
Once you have completed your research, ensuring that you have at least two or three additional resources above and beyond the requirements of your instructor, go through your organized research notes (preferably on index cards labeled with detailed citation information). At this point, you need to ensure that all of your research supports your thesis. If you don't have enough research that ultimately supports your position, you need to go back and ensure that you will be able to support your thesis statement.
4. Select the research material that you will use in your paper.
After reviewing your research material, you should now have an idea as to which research material you'd like to include in your research paper.
It is now that you should organize your research in such away as to support each aspect of your thesis statement. By organizing your research into tenants of your thesis, your research paper has practically written itself.
5. Create your bibliography, works cited page to your instructors specifications.
Now is the time to put together your bibliography or works cited page according to the method preferred by your instructor. He or she should provide you with at least the name of the system you are supposed to use in order to cite your research properly. Stills such as Chicago style and MLA are most popular. If your instructor doesn't give you more information regarding the appropriate method to use, there is plenty of accurate information on-line and at the library.
6. Double-check your research for accuracy.
Once your paper is written, checked, rechecked, and ready to go, it is always wise to double-check your research for accuracy. In that way, you will be able to ensure that you are properly supporting your thesis statement with the best research
possible.
Using a little organization and good sense, you will ace all of your research assignments. A little preparation really does go a long way.
An annotated bibliography is constructing in much the same way as a regularly bibliography. We create the proper citation, whether it be MLA or APA, and then we simply space down and write a summary. However, the goal here is to write a small summary in two parts. For the first part, we want to write about a paragraph detailing the source …show more content…
and what it is. The second part is simply another paragraph. However. In this paragraph, we attempt to write what component of our paper we will use the source for, and how it will be beneficial.
As can easily be guessed, there are many benefits to constructing a bibliography in this way. When we put out summaries and detail how we are going to use a source, we make it much easier to organize what we are doing. Instead of sifting through source after source and spending large amounts of time trying to piece together different information, we can simply reference the annotated bibliography, knowing precisely where each piece of information is and how it can be used to aid us in our research.
Of course, creating an annotated bibliography can be sort of a strange idea at first, after one has become very used to writing works cited in the traditional way. With that in mind, here is an example of how to write an annotated bibliography simply and effectively:
"Edward Roscoe Murrow." Encyclopedia of World Biography 2nd ed. 17 vols. Biography Resource Center. Gale. Rohrbach Lib., Kutztown U. 21 Mar. 2008 .
The author begins by telling about Edward Murrow's most prominent accomplishment in the radio and television new broadcasting. Then the author tells about Murrow's early years of his life. Then the author talks about the beginning of Murrow's career at CBS. The article delves into detail about Murrow's broadcast that made him a common household name around the world. Then the author describes his television career with See It Now and Person to Person. The article concludes discussing the widespread nature of television commercialism and its need to push news broadcasting off the air. The article describes his initial ill health causing him to retire and passed away shortly after in 1965.
The article offers a brief precise description of Edward Roscoe Murrow's life. The author manages to gives least bit of detail possible while still revealing the high points of Murrow's life. The article is a great source to skim the surface about Murrow's life. Yet, the article lacks the ability to delve into Murrow's true accomplishments with the respect and intricate detail they deserve. (Example Credited: Kristin Cornish)
Remember that in actual bibliography, you are going to want to use double spacing both for the citation and for the paragraphs. With a little time and a little bit of practice, we can learn to construct these very helpful and fairly simple annotated bibliographies, and the benefits that at they can give us for researching and writing a paper is incredibly pronounced.
Most freelance writers realize the value of research-without it, where would we get out information? Almost all writing projects require at least some research, if only to check out a fact on the Internet, but paper-based research takes a little bit of extra finesse. When you're using books and paper-based resources for your writing, you'll need a system for keeping track of it all.
Organization is important with any writing project, from a 500-word article to a 90,000-word book. If you can't keep track of your paper-based research, then how can you hope to keep your writing organized? When you're working on a freelance writing project, it's best to have an organizational system.
First, you'll need an area in which to keep track of all of your paper-based research. Simply using your entire office as an "area" won't work; you need a section devoted entirely to your freelance writing project. There are a number of ways in which this can be accomplished.
Some freelance writers prefer to keep track of their paper-based research in a filing cabinet. They label their file folders with different types of research and stow all of their articles, books and printed materials there. The downside to filing everything is that some books won't fit in regular hanging files, and you'll wind up with piles of overflowing research.
The second option for keeping track of paper-based research is to purchase a rolling cart. You can find them at Wal-Mart or Target in plastic for less than $25, or a nicer wooden cart for less than $100. The best rolling carts have three or four drawers as well as a flat surface on top.
You can either label your rolling cart drawers or use them as the need arises, but they're far more practical than hanging files. You can store large books, hefty files or even office supplies and the drawers provide easy grab-and-go access.
Once you've established an area for keeping track of your paper-based research, you'll need a way to find important documents quickly. There's nothing worse than coming to a point in your work where you need to reference a book or print-out and having to search through piles of paper-based research to find it.
First, small black binder clips work great for separating papers in a file folder or even pages in a book. You can easily flip to the most important sections, and binder clips are not easily lost or bent like paper clips.
You'll probably also want to invest in a set of multi-colored highlighters as well as several pads of Post-It notes. These allow you to carefully mark pages in a book or stack of papers.
And finally, when freelance writers use paper-based research, they usually have to cite their sources at the end of the piece. Since you'll have all of your paper-based research organized in your hanging files or rolling cart, you can easily mark down the resources you need to site. Keep a yellow legal pad or a small spiral notebook in your drawers so you can jot down the source as you're moving along. That way, you don't have to pause in the middle of your freelance writing project to type up a bibliography.
Once you come up with a way to effectively keep track of your paper-based research, your freelance writing career will become far less of a hassle.
Do you feel overwhelmed by your latest research paper assignment? Here are 6 easy tips that will ensure that you ace all of those pesky research assignments in both college and high school.
1. Discuss your thesis sentence (hypothesis) and your research ideas with your professor or teacher.
Once you have decided on the thesis statement (hypothesis) that you intend to support using research, talk to your instructor.
By discussing your hypothesis, as well as research ideas, with your professor, you can get a better feel for what he or she is looking for in the project. If you will be too overwhelmed trying to support a thesis statement that is too broad, he or she will be the first to let you know. By getting the initial approval of your instructor, you will ensure that you are off to a good start.
2. Do your research first.
After getting the initial approval from your teacher or professor, you are ready to dive into the research. There is almost too much information out there these days. When completing the research, be sure that you are using valid, preferably peer-reviewed sources. There is a lot of unreliable information on-line, although that certainly doesn't mean that you can't use on-line resources.
3. Ensure that your research supports your thesis sentence …show more content…
(hypothesis).
Once you have completed your research, ensuring that you have at least two or three additional resources above and beyond the requirements of your instructor, go through your organized research notes (preferably on index cards labeled with detailed citation information). At this point, you need to ensure that all of your research supports your thesis. If you don't have enough research that ultimately supports your position, you need to go back and ensure that you will be able to support your thesis statement.
4. Select the research material that you will use in your paper.
After reviewing your research material, you should now have an idea as to which research material you'd like to include in your research paper.
It is now that you should organize your research in such away as to support each aspect of your thesis statement. By organizing your research into tenants of your thesis, your research paper has practically written itself.
5. Create your bibliography, works cited page to your instructors specifications.
Now is the time to put together your bibliography or works cited page according to the method preferred by your instructor. He or she should provide you with at least the name of the system you are supposed to use in order to cite your research properly. Stills such as Chicago style and MLA are most popular. If your instructor doesn't give you more information regarding the appropriate method to use, there is plenty of accurate information on-line and at the library.
6. Double-check your research for accuracy.
Once your paper is written, checked, rechecked, and ready to go, it is always wise to double-check your research for accuracy. In that way, you will be able to ensure that you are properly supporting your thesis statement with the best research
possible.
Using a little organization and good sense, you will ace all of your research assignments. A little preparation really does go a long way.