MEG 2700 Fluid Mechanics: Annotated Bibliographies

WHAT IS AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY?

An annotated bibliography provides additional information about a work along with the bibliographic citation.

The annotation usually provides a summary of the work, an evaluation, and information about the author.  Some annotations are only a summary of the work.  Check with your professor to see what is required for your assignment.

The annotation is usually 1 to 2 paragraphs in length, about 100 to 150 words.

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER IN WRITING AN ANNOTATION PARAGRAPH

1. What are the main points of the work (article, books, etc.)?

2. What is the author’s position on the topic?  What credentials does the author have to speak to this topic?

3. Is there any bias?

4. To whom is the author writing?

5. How well does the author make his/her point?  Is the author convincing?

6. How useful is this work to your research?  

7. Are there important points that you want to remember?

8. What is your reaction to the work?

APA Guidelines are found on page 307-308 of the 7th edition. Use the same guidelines for writing your annotation as you would your paper. Here are some highlights:  

• Sort alphabetically by the first author's last name.
• Use Times New Roman, 12-point font
• Double-space with no extra spaces between entries
• In Zotero, set your Default export style to "APA Annotated,"  click and drag your citation
• You'll need to change the first line of the paragraph to line up with the rest of the paragraph.  Do not indent or use a hanging indent. The first line of a second (or additional paragraphs) should be indented.   

SAMPLE:

Phillips, M., Van Epps, A., Johnson, N., & Zwicky, D. (2018). Effective Engineering Information Literacy

Instruction: A Systematic Literature Review. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 44(6), 705–711.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2018.10.006

This study investigated effective methods of teaching information literacy to engineering

undergraduate students. Thirteen studies were included in the final data set, of which eleven

studies reported effective results based largely upon descriptive statistical analysis. The

strongest indicator of effectiveness that emerged in the data was collaboration with disciplinary 

faculty.

There are 2 Zotero citation styles that include annotations: APA and Chicago.  

To add these citations styles to your Zotero account, add them through Preferences.

       Edit --> Preferences  (PC)

       Zotero --> Preferences (Mac)

Access additional styles through Cite, then the Styles tab

Type Annotated in the search bar.  Choose the citation style.  After the file downloads, install.

After your Citation style is made available in the Style Manager,  choose it as the Default Format in the Export tab.  Click OK.

In Zotero, APA annotation style, the EXTRA field is used to to create the Annotation.  Type or Copy + Paste your annotation in to the Extra field.