Today's Hours:
An annotated bibliography is a list of citations to books, articles, and documents. Each citation is followed by a brief (usually about 150 words) descriptive and evaluative paragraph, the annotation. The purpose of the annotation is to inform the reader of the relevance, accuracy, and quality of the sources cited.
Abstracts are the purely descriptive summaries often found at the beginning of scholarly journal articles or in periodical indexes. Annotations are descriptive and critical; they may describe the author's point of view, authority, or clarity and appropriateness of expression.
Creating an annotated bibliography calls for the application of a variety of intellectual skills: concise exposition, succinct analysis, and informed library research.
For guidance in critically appraising and analyzing the sources for your bibliography, see How to Critically Analyze Information Sources. For information on the author's background and views, ask at the Research & Learning Desk for help finding appropriate biographical reference materials: reference@framingham.edu
Check with your instructor to find out which style is preferred for your class. Look under the "Citing Sources" tab on this guide for more information on how to cite in styles such as MLA and APA or click here: Citing Sources
The following example uses APA style (Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th edition, 2010) for the journal citation:
Waite, L. J., Goldschneider, F. K., & Witsberger, C. (1986). Nonfamily living and the erosion of traditional family orientations among young adults. American Sociological Review, 51, 541-554.
The authors, researchers at the Rand Corporation and Brown University, use data from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Young Women and Young Men to test their hypothesis that nonfamily living by young adults alters their attitudes, values, plans, and expectations, moving them away from their belief in traditional sex roles. They find their hypothesis strongly supported in young females, while the effects were fewer in studies of young males. Increasing the time away from parents before marrying increased individualism, self-sufficiency, and changes in attitudes about families. In contrast, an earlier study by Williams cited below shows no significant gender differences in sex role attitudes as a result of nonfamily living.
This example uses MLA style (MLA Handbook, 8th edition, 2016) for the journal citation:
Waite, Linda J., et al. "Nonfamily Living and the Erosion of Traditional Family Orientations Among Young Adults." American Sociological Review, vol. 51, no. 4, 1986, pp. 541-554.
The authors, researchers at the Rand Corporation and Brown University, use data from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Young Women and Young Men to test their hypothesis that nonfamily living by young adults alters their attitudes, values, plans, and expectations, moving them away from their belief in traditional sex roles. They find their hypothesis strongly supported in young females, while the effects were fewer in studies of young males. Increasing the time away from parents before marrying increased individualism, self-sufficiency, and changes in attitudes about families. In contrast, an earlier study by Williams cited below shows no significant gender differences in sex role attitudes as a result of nonfamily living.
Permission has been given to Henry Whittemore LIbrary, Framingham State University to use/adopt this guide created by Olin Library Reference Research & Learning Services Cornell University Library, Ithaca, NY, USA
Since current efforts to curb texting while driving through legislation are proving ineffective, activists should focus their efforts on persuading car manufacturers to install safety devices in new cars that prevent drivers from texting while driving.
Jones, Joe. “Texting While Driving Legislation Proving Useless.” Transportation Safety, edited by Frank Harvey, 2nd ed., vol. 3, Singleton, 2016, pp. 80-89
This book chapter discusses a study done in 2014 by the National Highway Traffic Safety Agency, a division of the U.S. Department of Transportation, where they looked at the number of car accidents caused by texting while driving in states with legislation banning texting while driving. They compared the number of accidents before and after the law was passed and found that there was no reduction in these accidents, even after the law had been in place for over three years and there had been multiple publicity campaigns to raise awareness.
The chapter was written by Joe Jones, who is a law professor at the University of Michigan specializing in transportation legislation. Because of his expertise in the field, he should be a reliable author to write about the subject. The book Transportation Safety was published by Singleton, which is a well-respected publisher of reference material for academic libraries. The book was published in 2016 but the statistics all came from 2014, so in my paper, I’ll have to consider that the numbers may have changed. The source of the statistics, though, is very reliable because the National Highway Traffic Safety Agency is the government agency responsible for collecting national statistics on car accidents. The source is not biased because they support texting while driving bans, so the fact that they show no improvement helps support their objectiveness.
This book chapter supports the first part of my argument that claims texting while driving bans are ineffective; this will be the first point I address in my paper in order to convince my audience that car safety devices are a better solution. I will also use the chapter for the statistics and background it provides on which states have texting while driving bans and how the bans were passed, so I can show how much effort has been focused on passing legislation.