Annotated Bibliography Assignment
After you have substantially researched your topic, select four sources that best meet your research need and prepare an annotated bibliography. The sources you include should be the result of your extensive research and may include a variety of types of sources (books, journal articles, etc.). Your annotated bibliography should be prepared according to ACS format, using The ACS Style Guide: Effective Communication of Scientific Information, 3rd edition. One or more copies of this book are held on reserve in the library.
The Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/614/01/ offers further information regarding annotated bibliographies. The MC Library offers citation assistance on the Chemistry & Biochemistry Lib Guide at http://mc.libguides.com/chembio
Each source in this annotated bibliography, along with a correctly formatted citation, should include a summary of the content of the source and a two-pronged critical analysis of the source. The first part of the critical analysis will be your objective evaluation of the source and the second part will be your subjective evaluation. Even if a source is found to be credible, if it does not contribute to your research question, it should not be included.
For each source, prepare an entry according to the following guidelines:
1. Bibliography Entry: Include the complete bibliographic information correctly formatted according to the ACS style guidelines
2. Summary of Content: Include a descriptive paragraph summarizing the source. Include key concepts and quotations when appropriate.
3. Objective Evaluation: Objectively evaluate the credibility of the source using the criteria that are most relevant. Use the questions presented in the TRAAP criteria at http://mc.libguides.com/research/eval to stimulate your ideas, but don’t feel as if you need to address each criteria as a checklist. Use the criteria that are appropriate for your source. When relevant, address such things as bias or lack of bias, outdated material or current material, author’s point of view, and author’s credentials and qualifications to write on the topic. What is the author’s purpose in writing the information? Is the information presented without prejudice? Or does the author, publisher, or research funding organization have a stake in the outcome or the controversy you are investigating?
4. Subjective Evaluation: Include a summary of the relevance of the source to your research topic or question. How will the source contribute to your research, and how useful will it be? Does it offer a unique perspective? Does it offer a contradictory viewpoint to another source
