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Essential Elements for Writing Annotated Bibliographies

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Essential Elements for Writing Annotated Bibliographies

Presented Thursday, August 13, 2020

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Transcript last updated Wednesday, August 19, 2020

 

Visual: Opening slide is titled Housekeeping

  • Recording: Will be available online within 24 hours.
  • Interact: Polls, files, and links are inteactive.
  • Q&A
  • Help
    • Ask in the Q&A box.
    • Choose “Help” in the upper right-hand corner of the webinar room.

Audio: [Kacy] Hello everyone and thank you all so much for joining us for our webinar. My name is Kacy, and I am a writing instructor calling in from St. Louis, Missouri. And before we get started on the webinar about annotated bibliographies, and I hand things over to our presenter, Max, I just wanted to go over a few housekeeping items.

First of all, this webinar is being recorded and in a day or two, you will be able to access it through our website, so if you have to leave early or go over any portion of this webinar again later, you can check out that recording. You will also find many other recorded webinars on different writing related topics.

There will be several chances to interact with your colleagues and our presenter, Max, so be sure to participate in the session using the large chat box just like you did before the webinar started. All the links on the slides are interactive so you can click directly on them for access to more information now or later if you access the recording.

We also have a few helpful files in the files pod which you can download by clicking on the "download files" bottom at the bottom of the pod. That’s where you will find a copy of the slides for this presentation.

There will be a lot of information on the webinar and if you have questions you can use the Q&A box. I will be watching the Q&A box throughout the webinar and will answer questions as quickly as I can. If we run out of time, however, or if you've questions later, you can send them to writingsupport@mail.waldenu.edu, and you'll get a response through email.

Finally, if you encounter any technical difficulties, feel free to reach out to me in that Q&A box or there is that help button in the upper right-hand corner of the webinar screen which is the Adobe Connect help button so that's often the best place to start out.

So, thank you again so much for joining us and I will turn things over to our presenter Max Philbrook.

[Max] Thank you very much, Kacy and can you confirm you can hear me okay?

[Kacy] I can hear you.

[Max] Excellent. Wonderful. Thank you all so much for being here. It is my pleasure to be presenting this session to you called Essential Elements for Writing Annotated Bibliographies.

 

Visual: Slide changes to the title of the webinar: Essential Elements for Writing Annotated Bibliographies and includes the presenter’s name, picture, and role: Max Philbrook, Writing Instructor, Walden University Writing Center

Audio: [Max] My name is Max Philbrook, and I am a writing instructor here in the Writing Center. I've worked in the Writing Center for almost 5 years now, so I have read a lot of the student writing from undergrad, Masters level, all the way to doctoral level capstone writing, and one thing I have noticed across all of those levels is that the need for being able to use sources well in evidence-based writing is so important at each of those levels.

That is why I am pleased to be here presenting to you this session on annotated bibliographies, because the annotated bibliography is a tool that you can use to help you improve your skills with that evidence and source-based writing.

Before I begin, I would like to give a great thanks to Kacy, who is a wonderful writing instructor in the Writing Center as well. If you have ever worked with her in a paper review session, you know how helpful and smart and dedicated Kacy is to you writers at Walden.

I also want to say hi to our captioner tonight, Karen, thank you so much for providing accessible captioning for our students. One of my very favorite parts of working at Walden is how dedicated we are as a community to making our resources and education accessible. So, thank you so much, Karen, for being here.

And thank you all. I was following along in the chat before the session started today, and I am just so impressed and so amazed that we can all be here together in this same space, even though we are spread out all over the world. And all over -- not just all over the world, but we all have different research interests. This diversity of students that come together in these webinars is amazing.

And so, without further ado, what if we started with an audience participation question.

 

Visual: Slide changes to the following: Annotated Bibliography Benefits?

  • Chat Box Brainstorming: What are some of the benefits of completing an annotated bibliography? How might this project support your development as a writer and a scholar?

Audio: [Max] Likely, most if not everyone is somewhat familiar with what an annotated bibliography is. So, what I would like you to do in the chat box is to maybe do some reflecting. Put in some ideas you might have about what are the benefits of completing an annotated bibliography? And how might the annotated bibliography support your work as a scholar?

I like to start with this question because sometimes the annotated bib biography can feel like a series of hoops to jump through or unnecessary obstacles. But if we think hard enough about it, let’s come up with some benefits. I will go on mute and give people a chance to type into the box. So, thank you everyone. [Presenter mutes while students respond to the chat question.]

I am seeing a lot of great answers coming through the chat box. I see people writing a lot about using sources, partaking in the reading of academic research, advancing your writing skills as a scholarly writer, information -- a lot of people are writing about the benefits of an annotated bibliography because of the information that you can gather. These are all wonderful, wonderful responses.

And for that person who wrote I honestly do not know, maybe at the end of the session if we ask the question again hopefully you will have some good responses there. But not to worry, that is why we are here, we are here to learn and practice some of these ideas.

Thank you all very much. Now let's dive into the session. Thank you, Kacy for switching the layout.

 

Visual: Slide changes to the following: Today’s Learning Objectives:

  • Understand the purpose of the annotated bibliography
  • Learn the “three-section method” for writing annotations
  • Practice each section of an annotation: summary, evaluation, & application
  • Develop revision skills that help to improve the annotated bibliography

Audio: [Max] What we are going to do today in the next 54 minutes is work to understand the purpose of the annotated bibliography. It sounds like many of you have a good handle on that already. So, I will keep in mind that we had some good answers in the chat box there.

Then what I would like to do is teach you the three-section method for writing annotations for each of your sources. The three-section method is a standard practice here at Walden and I would like to teach you a little bit about each of those sections. Then we will do some practice and I will ask you to read and analyze annotations so we can look and see what each of those three sections does: the summary, the evaluation, and the application. Finally, we will take time at the end to practice revising and identifying areas within those annotations that might need some work.

For my money, I think having a chance to have a hands-on approach to the annotated bibliography and looking at it critically is a great way that you can learn how to make those changes in your own writing as well.

 

Visual: Slide changes to the following: APA 7 Transition Reminder

Audio: [Max] Before we go further, I just want to make sure, since I am in the Writing Center and the Writing Center deals with APA quite a bit. I want to make sure that everyone here was aware that recently the Writing Center and Walden University as a whole has transitioned from the previous APA style to the current seventh edition of APA 7. Hopefully, this is not news to you. And even if it is, the slide here is full of links to our Writing Center resources where you can learn more about the new style.

We have done the work for you and identified the major changes relevant to Walden writers, and we've created resources that will help you learn to apply those new changes to your writing.

If you have memorized the APA 6 manual, don't worry, you do not have to memorize a brand-new manual. The APA 7 is an extension of APA 6 with minor tweaks that are actually really helpful and in the long run help streamline your writing. So, I wanted to make sure that everyone is on the same page with APA 7.

All of the information and examples in the presentation tonight are done in APA 7. So that is rest assured, that we are working from the APA 7 style manual.

If you have questions about that, check the resources here or just let Kacy know in the Q&A box and we will see if we can get those questions answered or at least point you in the right direction.

Let's begin on our learning objectives today.

 

Visual: Slide changes to the following: Defining the Annotated Bibliography

  • According to the Publication Manual of the APA (2019), annotated bibliographies:
    • “Consist of reference list entries followed by short descriptions of the work called annotations” (p.9).
    • Give the researcher a chance to share the literature that is applicable for their specific project.
    • Follow APA guidelines for writing style unless there are specific requirements in the assignment prompt.

Audio: [Max] What is the annotated bibliography? Well, according to the APA manual or more precisely, the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, annotated bibliographies "consist of reference list entries followed by short descriptions of the work called annotations." That is on page 9 if you want to find that in the APA manual.

At its very essence, what an annotated bibliography is is a collection of sources that have something to do with your research project. These sources, primarily when you're working at Walden, are from scholarly sources like journals, books, textbooks, or data that is published by credible organizations.

What you are doing is collecting those sources and you are analyzing and summarizing and evaluating each source individually. So, the second plank on the pyramid is annotated bibliographies give the researcher a chance to share the literature that is applicable for their specific project. And annotated bibliographies follow APA guidelines for writing style unless there are specific requirements in the assignment prompt.

I added that at the bottom of the pyramid because I wanted to emphasize that Walden assignments, coursework assignments for the annotated bibliography, are context dependent. The assignments for annotated bibliographies that you get at Walden are specific to -- they are specific -- [audio drop]. Sorry everyone I was having little bit of technical difficulty with my headset. I see from the captioner that I am back online.

Here at Walden we have a particular way of doing annotated bibliographies and what those assignments require of you. But I want to point out that an annotated bibliography is a tool, something you can use for your purposes so you can get something out of it and you can use that information later in your project.

At the heart, the annotated bibliography is a collection of sources.

 

Visual: Slide changes to the following: What Are Annotated Bibliographies?

  • Annotated Bibliographies are a tool that allow scholarly writers to:
    • Demonstrate knowledge and critically assess literature in your field
    • Share value of a source
    • Inform fellow and future researchers
    • Gather sources for literature review
    • Prepare notes for future writing projects
  • Doctoral capstone students may particularly find them helpful preparing for literature reviews.

Audio: [Max] If we go into more depth here about the annotated bibliography, we can see that the annotated bibliography allows you to do certain things. As you are collecting those sources and writing about the sources and interpreting and reading and being critical of those sources, you are able to demonstrate your knowledge and critically assess the literature in your field.

You can sure the value of a source to the reader. Part of the annotated bibliography entry is your evaluation of that source. It gives you the opportunity to say, this is a good source. Or this is a source that needs some work. You are able to inform fellow and future researchers about the quality of sources.

You are able to gather sources for the literature review. Sometimes the literature review and an annotated bibliography are compared to one another. They are very different documents, even though both involve collecting and organizing sources. The purpose of the literature review is quite different than the annotated bibliography. In fact, if you think about your overall timeline here at Walden, the annotated bibliography is something that will come first. It is something you can develop over time and add to and develop and curate and grow. Whereas, the literature review is a very specific writing assignment that you will only do in certain types of writing at Walden. The annotated bibliography allows you to gather a lot of sources you might use later in the process to write your lit review.

As many of you pointed out in our brainstorming session before, the annotated bibliography is a great way for you to do something with those sources. I know all of us have a folder on our computers that is just full of research articles. And unless you take the time to do something with those research articles, nothing happens. Trust me, I have been buying every magic wand on the Internet I can find in order to waive it over that stack of papers so the information will go into my brain. But so far that hasn’t worked. So far, there is no magic wand or special cure to get that information, you have to do something with it, and the annotated bibliography or allows you to gather that information.

I've added a little note that if you are a doctoral capstone student, and I know that some of you are, thanks for being here. Keep up the good work. Trust me, it gets better. The annotated bibliography is a tool that is especially useful for that type of student. The pile of research articles for doctoral writing gets a lot bigger than the pile of papers, research papers, for other levels of writing.

That is the intro, that is what an annotated bibliography is. What does an annotated bibliography look like?

 

Visual: Slide changes to the following: Annotated Bibliography Format and Organization:

  • Introduction
    • Annotation of source #1
    • Annotation of source #2
    • Annotation of source #3
  • Conclusion
  • Annotated Bibliography introductions and conclusions are dependent on each writing situation.

Audio: [Max] Here is the general accepted structure of annotated bib biographies at Walden. As you can see, we have an introduction and conclusion. As with most coursework writing, the introduction and conclusion are very helpful and necessary components. But what you will see between those is individual annotations of each source.

So, you handle source one, and complete the annotation for source one, and then you move on to source two, complete the annotation for source two, and move on and complete the annotation for source three, and repeat, repeat, repeat, depending on what the assignment asks of you and depending on what your purpose is for the annotated bibliography.

Why I mentioned the context about the annotated bibliography earlier is because in the introduction and conclusion, you are really able to give your reader some information about what the purpose of that annotated bibliography is.

Now, if you're using an annotated bibliography just as a tool, if it is not for a class, if it is not intended for others to read -- if it is just for your own purposes, then the introduction and conclusion are not necessarily important.

You might want to add a little bit of information at the beginning of your annotated bibliography if it is just for you, so when you come back to it later you will know what type of sources you are dealing with.

But the introduction and conclusion are really important when you are writing an annotated bibliography for Walden coursework. If you are turning it in for a grade or as some evidence of the research process, you will definitely want to have a fully formed introduction and a fully formed conclusion.

 

Visual: Slide changes to the following: Writing Introductions:

  • Chat Box Brainstorming: What would be some helpful information you could include in the introduction of an annotated bibliography?

Audio: [Max] And with that I would like to ask another question and I would like to open it up to the audience again.

What you know about annotated bib biographies now and what you know about introduction writing, I am curious what you all think might be useful information to include in the annotated bibliography introduction.

I will go on mute -- there are no wrong answers here; the introduction is very context driven. So, think about a writing situation where you might use an annotated bibliography and see if you can come up with ideas about what you might put in the introduction of the document. Good luck. [Presenter goes on mute as students respond to the question in the chat: What would be helpful information for the introduction?]

Okay, I am seeing some excellent answers here for this question. But I'll be honest, it is a hard question because you do not know specifically what you are writing the introduction for. Some of the positive, quality answers I'm seeing: an overview of the topic. That is an excellent bit of information to put in the annotated bibliography. Some of you -- I saw at least one person write -- a summary of the research project, so not just the topic summary, but also what your intervention might be. Someone said, problem/purpose, history of the topic. These are great answers.

I even saw someone write thesis statement which is a really safe bet that in an introduction to a document you will have a thesis statement. Now, in the annotated bibliography, your goal is not to make an argument or to establish a position. So maybe instead of thesis statement, we can think about it more as a blueprint statement or a description of what your goal is for completing the annotated bibliography. Excellent, yes. I'm just reading back through the chat -- excellent, these are quality answers, everyone. Wonderful.

I am seeing some great critical thinking here. There's already some awareness of what an annotated bibliography is. Very nice.

 

Visual: Slide changes to the following: Three-Section Method for Annotations

  • Reference Entry +
  1. Summary
  2. Analysis &
  3. Application

Audio: [Max] Skip ahead to the next slide. Excellent. Thank you for arranging the layout, Kacy. That’s great. We will continue forward and now what I’d like to do is zoom in on each individual annotation.

Remember from the organization side, there's an introduction and conclusion and in between those are individual annotations. Each source gets its own annotation. Here at Walden, we ascribe to the three-section method for annotations. So, each annotation consists of the following. First, an APA style reference entry that gives the reader a full view of the publication's information for the source so -- and that goes right by APA style and if you're curious or have questions about reference entry style, you can see in the gray box on the slide, there are active links that will take you to the Writing Center's webpage for each of those pieces of information.

You might need to download the slide deck and as Kacy pointed out earlier, in the pod at the bottom, there's a files pod and you can download the slides here. I recommend it because all the links included in the slide deck are active and will take you to the Writing Center’s resources.

So, a reference entry followed by three sections. Usually each of these will get its own paragraph: summary of the article, analysis of the article, and the application of the article.

So, one, a summary of the information presented in the article. Two, your evaluation and analysis of the article itself. And then three, how you might apply the information from the article in your own work.

These are not just three random topics. If you do each of these sections well, you will have all the information you will need to really understand the article or the study, and all the information you'll need to decide whether or not this is a good source for your own research process.

For each source you are annotating, you will include each of these three sections.

 

Visual: Slide changes to the following: Writing Each of the Three Sections

  • Let’s take a closer look at each of the three sections of a standard annotated bibliography entry.

Audio: [Max] So, let's jump right in and take a closer look at each of these sections of a standard annotated bibliography entry.

 

Visual: Slide changes to the following: Summary Paragraph

  • Purpose: Give a brief overview of main points, features, and findings of a source.
  • Topics and Themes
    • What is the topic and purpose of the study?
    • What are the main conclusions of the source?
    • How did the author organize the information?
    • What kinds of sources did the author use?
  • Methodology and Approach
    • What actions did the researcher perform and why?
    • What were the methods?
    • Who was the population?
    • What was the theoretical basis?
  • Context and Helpful Info.
    • What is the context for this study?
    • Who is responsible for publication of this source?
    • What other sources is this source in conversation with?
    • Is this new data or a report of existing data?

Audio: [Max] First, the summary paragraph. All of you, if you have ever done source-based writing then you've done summary writing. Summary is when you take information from the article and give a brief overview of the main points, features, findings, methodology, approach, context, the data -- you are citing the facts from the article.

So, this is the first paragraph. You are giving the facts, and these boxes here, I've given some questions for you to ponder. One of the best ways that I think you can learn about writing annotated bibliographies is by thinking about the questions that someone might ask or the questions you might have about the article.

So, some ideas to get you brainstorming about the summary paragraph, what is the topic or the purpose of the study? What are the main conclusions of the source? How did the author organize the information? What kind of sources did the author use?

But you’re also describing the article or the study itself so maybe the methodology used by the authors of the article, maybe that is good summary information that would be relevant to your reader. What actions did the research perform? What were the methods? Who was a population? What was the theoretical basis?

And there's always outside information, context information that might be helpful also for the reader or for you later. What is the context? Who is responsible for publication of the source? What other sources is the source in conversation with? And what do you make of the data?

As you can see, all of these questions are leading you to make statements about the content of the source. You are stating the facts about the source. That is important to keep in mind here in the summary paragraph.

 

Visual: Slide changes to the following: Summary Paragraph

  • Summary Paragraph Tips:
    • Focus on facts
    • Use the past tense
    • Read more than just the abstract
    • Use your own words; Avoid quotes
    • Don’t include everything
    • Name the author(s) at least once; Publication year is optional
    • Avoid anthropomorphism and passive voice

Audio: [Max] Now in this list, I’m getting into more the writing tips for the summary paragraph, so focus on the facts. You do not need to analyze it or bring in your opinion or editorialize.

Use the past tense. According to Creswell (2018), Creswell argued, Creswell stated, use the past tense because you're stating what the author has done in the past.

It is important to go beyond just the abstract. You want to get down into the weeds and make sure you know the details that surround the entire study, not just what is reported in the abstract.

Paraphrase. Use your own words to summarize information. Avoid quotations. This is good advice I think in scholarly writing in general. Your reader is more interested in what you have to say about the article more than they are interested in what the article -- with a quotation from the article is.

Do not include everything. This is a very important point. You cannot include a summary of everything, so you need to be really smart and critical about what facts and information you provide. You have to put yourself in the minds of your readers so you can decide what is important here, what matters, and what should I focus on?

So, this bullet here, name the authors at least once, publication year is optional. So, we’ll see in the sample paragraph in just a moment, bit of an art form to using citations and source identification in the summary paragraph. You need not provide a formal APA citation every time you are mentioning information from the source. Once you name the authors you can start to be creative and start to refer to the authors in different ways. And I will show you some examples of that later. The publication year is optional here because you are only talking about one source. And just prior to the summary paragraph, you have introduced an entire reference entry, so the reader knows precisely what source you are talking about.

It's important to avoid anthropomorphism and passive voice in the summary paragraphs. I will show you another example of that too, but I always encourage active writing using active verbs and avoiding "to be" verbs because the more active your verbs are, the more descriptive and the more precise your writing can be. So, let's take a quick look at that.

 

Visual: Slide changes to the following: Summary Paragraph: Tips for Strong Scholarly Writing

  • Paraphrase source material and avoid quotations
  • Use past tense to indicate what the author has done
    • Fauci (2020) argued that…. The central claim of Nader (2019) was…
  • Avoid anthropomorphism to enhance clarity
    • The study reported that….
    • The authors of the study reported that…
  • Use active verbs instead of passive voice
    • Thompson et al. (2012) reported that...
    • It was reported by Thompson et al. that….

Audio: [Max] So, I have added some links here and have gone into a bit more detail about paraphrasing and avoiding quotations. Here's an example of the past tense: Fauci (2020) argued that…. The central claim of Nader (2019) was… So that’s the past tense. Avoiding anthropomorphism is important because it allows you to be very precise. Instead of writing, the study reported that, a more appropriate and precise specific way to stay that is, the authors of the study reported that.

A study itself cannot report something. Just as a table cannot walk or something like that. You want to make sure you put the agency for what happened on the correct subject.

And here's what I mean about active verbs: Thompson et al. (2012) reported that -- That is an example of an active voice and avoiding the passive voice, whereas a more passive construction is: It was reported by Thompson et al. that -- The reason I put that in here is the word "it" is a very unclear pronoun; it is a pronoun that can really stand in for anything here, and so, if you move the subject to the beginning of the sentence and then use an active verb, Thompson reported -- Now, your writing is clear and strong and your writing is active and I think it's important in the summary paragraph because it can be a bit more difficult to follow along with your ideas if you are disguising the subject and if you are using "to be" verbs inside of the active past tense verbs.

 

Visual: Slide changes to the following: Summary Paragraph Sample

  • Thompson et al. (2006) conducted a study to determine how burnout and emotional exhaustion of female police officers affect their family environment based upon role ambiguity and role overload. Thompson et al. mailed surveys to 1,081 female police officers employed by the Australian State Police; however, only 421 surveys were useable. The researchers predicted that supervisor support would reduce role stressors and emotional exhaustion and improve family cohesion and conflict. They found a relationship between supervisor support and reduced role stressors, family functioning, and emotional exhaustion, but did not find a correlation between coworker support and work stress. Thompson et al. suggested that further research is needed on how emotional exhaustion affects family stressors for policewomen.

Audio: [Max] Alright, so let's take a look at a summary paragraph. And so, I will mention that this paragraph is not 100% perfect. It is not the best ever example of summary. But it illustrates some of the features and some of the strategies that I was just talking about.

A couple things to note. Thompson et al. (2006), at the beginning so there's a formal citation. In the second sentence, Thompson et al. shows up again but the publication year has been omitted. And then if you look down to the next sentence, we have, the researchers predicted that supervisors support would reduce role stressors. This an example of changing the way you identify the source so it is more reader friendly.

Note also that the first part of the paragraph is about the facts and findings. And here towards the bottom of the paragraph we have more information about the methodology and the conclusions that Thompson et al. posited in their study.

So, here is the first example of a summary paragraph. Remember, the summary paragraph is the first of three paragraphs you will write about your source.

And so, if I was reading your annotated bibliography, I would first read the reference entry. Then I would read the summary paragraph.

 

Visual: Slide changes to the following: Analysis Paragraph

  • Purpose: Evaluate relevant features of source to show reader your opinion of the quality of source.
  • Evaluation of information
    • Is there information included that is unnecessary?
    • Is there information left out that is necessary?
    • Is the source too detailed or too broad?
  • Evaluation of source methodology
    • Was the methodology of the study sound?
    • What, if any, information is missing?
    • Is there evidence of researcher bias?
    • Is the article scholarly or generalizable? Why or why not?
  • Evaluation of source data
    • Is the data used appropriate for the report?
    • Could the government or organization department have bias?
    • Does the report leave out any key information or ideas?

Audio: [Max] And next I would move forward, and I would be looking at paragraph two, which is the analysis paragraph.

Analysis, of course, is when you break down something and you look at the component parts that constitute that something. So, in this case, what you analyze is up to you but the important thing to keep in mind is that you are breaking down the component parts of the source and you are providing your evaluation of those features.

The purpose of the analysis paragraph is to evaluate relevant features of a source, to show the reader your opinion of the quality of the source.

And so now I have included the word "your opinion" of the quality of the source, so remember the annotated bibliography is a tool for you, the writer, to use. And so now your evaluation and your opinion are important here.

So, what can you say about the quality of the source? Well, you can analyze information and evaluate information. Is there information included that is unnecessary? Is there information left out that is necessary. Is the source too detailed or too broad? As a scholar you are also responsible for evaluating the source methodology: was the methodology of the study sound, what if any information is missing, is there evidence of researcher bias, is the article scholarly or generalizable, and why or why not? And you can also evaluate the sources of data: Is the data used appropriate for the report, could the government organization department have bias, does report leave out key information?

The analysis paragraph is your opportunity to look closely at the individual elements of a source. And these three that I included -- evaluating information, evaluating methodology, evaluating data -- these are only three options. There are many other elements for an article or a scholarly source that you could analyze.

I have put these are because it allows you to see what the task is that is ahead of you. Keep that in mind. Your opinion matters here. What you think about the source matters.

 

Visual: Slide changes to the following: Analysis Paragraph

  • Analysis Paragraph Tips:
    • Read critically and take questioning or critiquing notes
    • Focus on relevant and important features of the source
    • Make fair evaluations of those features the source
    • Assess the source for presence of bias
    • Evaluate what might affect the validity or trustworthiness of the source

Audio: [Max] Let's look at a few tips and strategies for looking at the analysis paragraph. Read critically. Take questioning or critiquing notes. This is really your chance to say, hey, this source is good because… Or this source needs work or the source is bad because…

This one, the second bullet here should look familiar. It was also in the first list for the summary paragraph. Focus on relevant and important features of the source. Make fair evaluations of those features. For example, if the source is not exactly 100% perfect for your specific study, it might not be fair of you to evaluate it negatively. Or if the source was written in 2014 and you criticized the source because it does not have the most up to date data, that is not really a fair evaluation. You have to make sure you are evaluating critically and yet evaluating fairly.

Make sure you look for presence of bias. I think now more than ever, with the Internet and with information being passed and changed at such a tremendously fast rate, we need to be more critical and aware of where the information is coming from and if there is bias involved with that. And then you might also evaluate the trustworthiness or credibility or validity of the source. All of these things would be useful features to include in your analysis paragraph.

 

Visual: Slide changes to the following: Analysis Paragraph Sample

  • Chat Box: What elements of the Thompson et al. source did the writer evaluate?
  • Although Thompson et al. made a significant contribution to the field of police research (particularly in their extensive literature review), the article had several limitations. First, the researchers chose a small and specialized sample, only surveying a small population of policewomen. Second, the researchers potentially influenced results by asking leading questions in the interviews and focus group meetings, which could have skewed their results. Therefore, further research is needed with a wider demographic range and completely impartial interviewers.

Audio: [Max] So, I would like to please ask you to do a little bit of work here. In the chat box, after reading this paragraph, I would like you to please identify what the writers of this annotation has evaluated from the Thompson et al. source. So, read the paragraph, and see if you can identify the specific features of the source that have been evaluated by the writer here. We will take about 60 seconds, see what you can do -- we will see how it goes and how people are writing and we will come back. Remember, where is the analysis? What is the writer analyzing from the Thompson et al. source? Good luck. [Presenter goes on mute as students respond to this question in the chat: What elements of the source did the writer evaluate?]

I see people are still typing, so I will mute again for a few more breaths, then we will come back together and we will take a look at the responses and the paragraph. Thanks, everyone. [Additional pause as students submit responses.]

Excellent. Very, very good. I'm seeing a lot of correct answers and a lot of specific examples of what the writer here is analyzing. Nice job. If you look closely, in the very first sentence, we see the writers stating that Thompson et al. made a significant contribution to the field of police research. So, there is a positive evaluation. The writer sees that Thompson et al. has a source that is significant, and a significant contribution to the field as a whole.

But in that same sentence, we also see that the main point of this paragraph is to identify the limitations.

So, the first limitation, yes, whoever focused on the idea of the sample size, the specialized sample size, which in the opinion of the writer of the annotation, was indeed a limitation. So that is an effective analysis of this particular article.

So, here we have the sentence that begins "Second, the researcher potentially influenced results” and there I think we are critiquing the methodology and so those of you who identified the methodology as being analyzed here -- yes excellent. The researchers, according to the writer of this annotation, the researchers were asking leading questions. They were not using proper qualitative research methodology.

And then we have a nice wrap up sentence here at the end, describing the two types of analysis that were taking place.

Here we have a nice balance between the positive and the negative. And the real -- the focus was on limitations having to do with the methodology and the sample size. So, this is one example of how you can zoom in and get specific about your analysis for the article you're looking at. Excellent work, everyone, the analysis paragraph I think is the most tricky because it really asks you to show that you know what the important pieces of a research article are. And that you have an opinion of those and you can identify when it is a quality – when it’s been done in a quality way or done in a way that needs more work.

Thank you for your participation; lots of great answers. Very impressed with the collective mind of this group, way to go group!

 

Visual: Slide changes to the following: Application Paragraph

  • Purpose: Explain how this source contributes to your understanding and how you might use this source in your own research
  • How is this source useful to you?
    • Does the source provide useful context for readers?
    • Can the source fill in gaps or give a reader general knowledge?
  • How is this source useful to other researchers?
    • Does the research fill a gap in the literature?
    • Is the article universal or generalizable?
    • How does the article extend or build upon previous studies?
    • How can future researchers extend or build upon this study?
  • How is this source useful to the field as a whole?
    • Does the data add context to the field?
    • Can the report provide a wider or narrower context than researchers previously had?

Audio: [Max] Let's move forward and look at the application paragraph. This is the third and final section of the annotation. And so, we have got our reference entry for the source and then we have summarized information of the source. And we have evaluated the source, the component parts of the source in our analysis paragraph. And now we are going to explain how the source contributes to your understanding, and how you might use this source in your own research.

The application paragraph is your opportunity to decide and express how the source will be useful to you or how it is not useful to you.

To me, this is a perfect paragraph to go last in your annotation, because this is really the make or break information. This is the time in the annotation where you get to show to your reader or show yourself, your future self, yes, put this in the used pile or no, put this in the back to the library pile.

So, some questions to consider: How is this source useful to you? Does the source provide useful context? Can the source fill in gaps or give the reader general knowledge? How is the source useful to other researchers? Does the research fill a gap in the literature? Is the article universal or generalizable? How does the article extend or build upon previous studies? Finally, how is the source useful to the field as a whole?

So, you want some balance of these three ideas but remember, the application -- how will you apply this study to your research project? And so, this is where you can use "I.” This is where you can use "me." This is where you can use "my."

 

Visual: Slide changes to the following: Application Paragraph

  • Application Paragraph Tips:
    • Include what you’ve learned
    • Be as specific as possible specific
    • Be selfish: Think about what a source does for you
    • Use the firstperson(“I” and “my”) if permitted by your instructor
      • But avoid “I think” or “In my opinion”
    • Continue to support assertions with explanations

Audio: [Max] And so, the application paragraph is very personal. Include what you have learned: Did the source do something for you or give you additional information about a topic you hadn't thought about. Did it give you a whole new direction to go in with your research?

On the second bullet, be as specific as possible. Be specific: describe what the fact is that you learned, describe what section of your capstone project you could use this in. This is where you can be very specific, that way, when you come back to annotation it is there and helpful and you can use that. Be selfish. Think about what this source does for you. Now, use the first person: I will use the study. My research will benefit from this by...

And, continue to support your assertions with explanations. So, you cannot just leave it at, I will use this article. You have to describe why. That is when you have to use those specific examples from your own research and from your own writing, having an awareness of your own project. But then also having an awareness of the information from the source, very important.

Do not just say, I will do this. I will do that. But also explain why, how, and specifically what information you are going to use.

So, I would like -- here's what I would like to do at this point but let's take a look at -- oh, and just another quick note here. You can use "I" and "my," but you still want to avoid I think or in my opinion because still want to firmly root your facts and assertions with examples and with specifics. So, make sure that whatever you are claiming, make sure you are doing so in a way that is founded in fact. And that avoids those: I think, I believe, in my opinion, statements.

 

Visual: Slide changes to the following: Application Paragraph: Example

  • Chat Box: Can you identify the writer’s description of the usefulness of this source?
  • This study was valuable to my understanding of how a female police officers’ experiences may be different than a male police officer. While Thompson et al.’s conclusions are not generalizable, their literature review is helpful to any scholar first approaching the subject. However, the researchers also showed that more studies should be conducted to fully explore the possible differences in police experiences that they identified.

Audio: [Max] Let's do this. Kacy, let's skip the chat box what I would like to do is I would like to point out where this writer is describing the usefulness of this source. And so, the usefulness of the Thompson et al. source for the particular research project that the writer is working on.

Right in that first sentence, you can see, this was valuable to my understanding and now the second part of the sentence is so important. The specific piece of information, the specific topic that it is valuable to: How female police officers’ experience may be different than a male police officer’s.

And then here are some additional facts about why this study is valuable. It is not generalizable to literature review is helpful to any scholar. And then there is a bit more of an application to what could be done. And so, I think of the application paragraph as a letter or postcard to future me. I am writing to me in the future will be writing the capstone and will be wanting to go through this information quickly.

So that is a very brief example of what an application paragraph might look like. And there is the example there.

 

Visual: Slide changes to the following: Questions?

Audio: [Max] The reason I wanted to skip that activity is because I want to make sure that I could pause and call on Kacy to help answer -- let me know if there are any questions that came up in the chat box that would be worthwhile to verbalize an answer for the group.

Kacy, was there anything that we should touch on before we go into the final parts of the presentation?

[Kacy] Yes, thank you, Max. We had some great questions and keep sending those in. But one thing I think would be especially important to talk about is you mentioned naming the author in your annotation, so there is confusion, would you ever cite another source in an annotation -- like if I'm creating an annotation for a source that you published, would I ever cite something from another scholar in that annotation, so I would need to specify when I'm talking about your source versus some other source?

[Max] That is an interesting question. And I think it really depends on the assignment that you are working on. So what Kacy is saying is, if I am annotating the Philbrook (2020) source, what I was saying before is that you do not need to provide a proper citation because the Philbrook (2020) source is the only source you are working with.

But I think this hypothetical is a good one to think about because yes, Kacy, there are circumstances where you would bring in a different source in an annotation. I think those circumstances are rare. But I think they would show up maybe in the analysis portion and I think they might show up in the evaluation portion. So, you might be comparing the source to other maybe seminal works. You might be comparing the source to other sources that you have in your annotated bibliography.

In that case, I would use a proper citation. I would use Philbrook (2020), even though it is the annotation for the source and then let's say I’m bring in the Creswell source into my annotation for the Philbrook source. Now I will use a proper formal Creswell (2020) citation as well.

And so I think that -- but if it is a standard annotation, you are just focused on the one Philbrook source, and you are summarizing and evaluating and applying just that one source -- that is when you can kind of be a little more flexible, a little more informal with the citations you provide. Does that answer your question?

[Kacy] Yeah, I think it does. I think you are pointing out it is important; the main thing is your reader should be able to tell where you get the information. That is the most important thing.

[Max] Absolutely, I really like the way you summed that up. Make sure your reader knows precisely which source the information is coming from. Absolutely. And if you are focused just on that one source, that is when you can start to be flexible and creative and, dare I say, artful when it comes to your citations. Yes, citing sources in scholarly work is an art form. There I said it, that is the writing teacher in me coming out. I think art is probably the last thing people think of when they think of citations. Anyway, okay. Writing teacher nerdery aside. Kacy, any other questions to address for the group?

[Kacy] I think that is good. We can keep moving on. Thank you, Max.

[Max] Absolutely. Like Kacy said, if you have questions, keep coming in the Q&A box and then, if you have questions after the session, we have a lot of Writing Center resources I will share with you at the end.

 

Visual: Slide changes to the following: Analysis: What is missing?

  • Institutions continue to develop and increase their online presence, including online courses and Writing Centers. Hewett’s used research to support her assertions. Hewett has written her book to a broad audience.
  • Specific examples from the article; evaluation of each element of the article

Audio: [Max] I'm going to skip forward.

 

Visual: Slide changes to the following: Analysis Revision

  • This in-depth look at online instruction is timely as institutions continue to develop and increase their online presence, including online courses and Writing Centers. Hewett’s use of research to support her assertions clearly shows the reader that her conclusions are not based on her own opinions but are rooted in empirical evidence. Hewett wrote her book to a broad audience, including professors and Writing Center tutors, as well as synchronous and asynchronous online instruction. This broad approach can lead to some chapters being less applicable to one group or another at times, possibly limiting the real-world application of her ideas.

Audio: [Max] Unfortunately, we ran out of time. If you are curious about more examples of analysis and application, you are more than happy to look at the slides later.

 

Visual: Slide changes to the following: Application: What is missing?

  • Hewett’s explanation of how instructors can use online instruction to best teach students is helpful to both experienced online instructors and those who are new to this way of helping students. Hewett’s book focuses on detailing the various ways writing instruction can be given online, including both synchronous and asynchronous teaching. In each chapter Hewett takes the reader through the practical components of developing an online teaching service, including what tools institutions can use.
  • Connection to broader audience; connection to your own research and professional work

Audio: [Max] We have revision opportunities and another chance to look at these paragraphs, an evaluation and application paragraph.

 

Visual: Slide changes to the following: Application Revision

  • Hewett’s explanation of how instructors can use online instruction to best teach students is helpful to both experienced online instructors and those who are new to this way of helping students. For my own instruction, Hewett has helped in verbalizing much of what I have seen first-hand in working with students. Additionally, she clearly outlines ways that instructors should clarify expectations about what we expect from students from online conferences, something which teachers might use in our own communications with students.

Audio: [Max] In the interest of time, I would like to start to close the session today with a brief review.

 

Visual: Slide changes to the following: Review

  • Annotated bibliographies are…
  • Your way to:
    • Demonstrate knowledge and critically assess sources
    • Evaluate the value of a source
    • Inform your own research process with additional resources
    • Gather sources for literature review
    • Take notes and master content
  • Written for:
    • Assignment on their own (course paper)
    • Preparation for final or longer paper (literature review, doctoral capstone students)
    • Personal notes

Audio: [Max] So, a review: annotated bibliographies are your way to demonstrate your knowledge and critically assess sources. They allow you to evaluate the value of a source. They allow you to inform your own research process with additional resources and that is really the heart of it.

The annotated bibliography is your chance to collect and read and do something with your research. It is a chance for you to gather your sources for the literature review. It’s a chance for you to take notes and master the content in your field.

It is written for an assignment, it is written for preparation, for a final or longer paper, perhaps the literature review, chapter 2 of your doctoral capstone. And it is written for your own personal use, and that I think is the most important thing. Even if you are writing your annotated bibliography for coursework, use it for what is valuable to you. It has to be useful to you, otherwise it is not worth doing.

 

Visual: Slide changes to the following: Annotated Bibliography Resources

Audio: [Max] So, if you would like to learn more or perhaps you are a different type of learner, maybe this webinar is your chance to get started with your study of annotated bibliographies, we have the recorded webinar of annotated bibliography and literature review basics. We have a full web page devoted to annotated bibliographies. There are plenty of scholarly published book reviews on annotated bibliographies out there and you can find this with a simple Google search.

 

Visual: Slide changes to the following: Resource Highlight:

  • This series will provide practical tips that will help writers use this research writing tool to its fullest.
  • Annotated Bibliography Essentials blog series
    1. Overview of the Annotated Bibliography
    2. Introduction and Conclusion Writing in the Annotated Bibliography
    3. Summary Writing in the Annotated Bibliography
    4. Analysis Writing in the Annotated Bibliography
    5. Application Writing in the Annotated Bibliography

Audio: [Max] A resource that I'm very pleased to share with you also is on the Writing Center’s blog. It is called Annotated Bibliography Essentials. And we've broken down each of the elements of the annotated bibliography and gone into great detail and depth. So, if you need to know more about a specific part of the three-part annotation, the summary, evaluation, or application, you can look at an individual blog post that goes into amazing detail on that.

As I said before, this link, the underlined title, Annotated Bibliography Essentials blog series, that is a live link. You can click on that and it will take you to the blog. If it is not clickable on the screen right now, go to the files pod and download the slide deck. And when you open the slide deck on your computer it will be available to you to click.

 

Visual: Slide changes to the following: Questions: Ask Now or Later

writingsupport@mail.waldenu.edu • Live Chat Hours

Audio: [Max] Finally, a big thank you to you all for being here. If you have questions later, email us. We have a writingsupport@mail.waldenu.edu email address, that is literally staffed by writing experts. You can ask us any writing related question and we will respond to 24-48 hours. We have live chat hours that you can access if you click the link there. And we have even more links to our annotated bibliography resources here.

Finally, and I mentioned this at the top of the hour, if you are working on your prospectus or if you are in doctoral coursework or if you are working on any stage of your master’s degree or if you're an undergrad writer, you are eligible to make paper review appointments, where an instructor like myself or Kacy, or any of the other 17 writing instructors in the Writing Center will take an hour. We will look at your paper and give you feedback and we will work to make you a better writer.

And you are eligible for three appointments per week for working with one of our writing instructors. To me, the paper review appointment is the premier service we offer. And to be honest, I have worked at many different Writing Centers online, in person… The paper review service at Walden is one of a kind. There is nothing else out there like that. And it is paid with your tuition dollars, and so you have access to it. It is a free service to you as a Walden student. You need to schedule it ahead so give yourself time and schedule out ahead so that you can get the time that you want. But it is a really great service for you to utilize. And you can look up my name, Max Philbrook on the schedule, and you can make a paper appointment with me. Maybe you are working on an annotated bibliography and you want to put some of these ideas to work, I’d be happy to work with you on that. And actually, I recognize a few names in the participants list I’ve worked with before. Jerrell, if you’re still out there, nice to see you. Come see me, come find me, come find Kacy, there's a lot of great instructors.

With that, I am going to end my portion of the presentation. I want to thank you all again. I would like to thank Karen, our captioner, and I would like to thank Kacy, our wonderful moderator.

Have a wonderful evening. Be safe. Be well. Take care of yourself. Take care of your loved ones, take care of each other. And keep up the great work you are doing with our social change mission here at Walden. Without you all doing this work, the world would be a much different place. So, keep it up and know that I and the entire Writing Center is here to help you achieve your social change goals. Thank you so much. And Kacy, I will hand it back to you.

[Kacy] Thank you all. Thank you for hanging out for a little extra time and we hope to see you in another webinar soon.