TEEL 431: Educational Psychology (Feldstein)

Recommended steps for writing an annotated bibliography

1. Review what an annotated bibliography is
2. Review your assignment and seek clarification from your instructor if needed
3. Search and gather resources. 
4. Read and analyze literature resources
5. For annotated bibliographies that are both descriptive and evaluative (see below), include:
   1. A Citation appropriate to your assignment or discipline. This provides information on where to find the information again.
   2. A Summary or analysis which provides information on what the source is about.
   3. An Assessment which provides information on why this information is good information.
   4. A Reflection which provides information on how you will use the information to support your research.
6. Format your annotated bibliography correctly

As you write an Annotated Bibliography, you often are trying to answer questions to help you Cite, Summarize, Assess, and Reflect on your information resources. (See our Annotated Bibliography guide for more info)

BEAM is especially helpful when writing the Summary and Reflection portions of the annotation.

Summary:

• What is it about?
• What topics are covered?
• What are the main arguments? Argument
• What claims are the authors making? Argument
• What types of evidence are they using to support these claims? Exhibit
  • Did they do original research?
  • Did they review the research of others?

Reflection:

• How can you use this resource in your research project?
• Why did you choose this information resource?
• How can other researchers use it? Can it help with:
  • Providing background information on a topic Background
  • Supporting or refuting an argument you are making Argument
  • Demonstrating a point  Exhibit

For Example, this annotation:

This study provides theories and suggestions for integrating information literacy instruction into classes. Crary used a quantitative survey to study the collaboration between secondary and middle-grade subject teachers and their school librarians, using Fullan's 2007 Change Theory. Crary found that the biggest impediment to collaboration was the time needed. This study can be applied to both secondary and higher education classrooms and demonstrates the importance of professional development in teaching classroom instructors information literacy skills.

A correctly formatted annotation contains all four elements, is a single cohesive paragraph without headings, and has a hanging indent. 

Newman, P.A., Fantus, S., Woodford, M.R., Rwigema, M. (2017). “Pray that God will change you”: The religious social ecology

of  bias-based bullying targeting sexual and gender minority youth—A qualitative study of service providers and

educators. Journal of Adolescent Research, 33(5), 523-548. https://doi.org/10.1177/0743558417712013

This study, which concludes that religion plays a role in homophobia, documents bullying trends towards LGBTQ+ teens in

Canada through interviews with teachers and therapists. The authors are experts in the fields of sociology and gender

studies. This peer-reviewed article presented the results of the well-designed, though small, study which collected data from a

diverse population of service providers and used accepted methods to ensure the quality of the data. The Journal of

Adolescent Research is well-respected within the field. The information in this study which connects religious faith to

homophobic bullying supports the argument that LGBTQ+ teens of faith may suffer mental health consequences if they

choose to stay in the church.