problem Solution paper

Annotated bibliography assignment

You are to compile sources to use in the writing of your researched argument paper. You can

change the topic later, but that would require finding new sources for your research. You must

have at least 6 annotated sources for this paper. At least 2 of the sources must come from

academic style sources (academic/professional journals, books).

(all material from this point taken from online sources)

What is an Annotated Bibliography?

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.

Suggestions for Writing Annotations

Content: What is the resource about? Is it relevant to your research?

Purpose: What is it for? Why was the book or article written?

Usefulness: What does it do for your research?

Reliability: Is the information accurate? Do other sources support the conclusions?

Authority: Is it written by someone who has the expertise to author the information? What are

the author’s credentials?

Currency: Is it new? Is it up-to-date for the topic?

Ease of use: Can a “real person” use this resource? What is the reading level of the resource?

Sample annotations

Website example (with no known authors)

“How We Survived Camp Living” Revolutionary War Camping. 12 Oct. 2008. 25 Oct. 2008

<http://www.revolutionarywarcamping.html>

This site provided basic information about camp life. It does raise some important issues about

gender and status that may be useful for the classroom. It is a commercial site rather than an

academic site, so it provides some insight into the clothing that was used and may be useful for

supplies. The impression I had from the title of the site was that it would have primary

documents. It does list some primary sources. In general, I would not use this site in my research

paper unless I could corroborate the information with another more trustworthy source.

I accessed this resource through Google.com. The search terms I used were revolutionary

camping and camp life in eighteenth century.

Article example (with known authors)

Adams, Samuel, John Adams and Paul Revere and edited by G. I. History “The Importance of

Beer and Taverns in the American Revolution.” American Journal of Social History. 97.3

(2008), 354-382. Social History Full Text. W. H. Wilson. Castleton State College, Calvin

Coolidge Library. 25 Oct. 2008. <http://www.castleton.edu/tah>

This article discusses the importance of beer and taverns in bringing together discussion of the

American Rebellion. It draws on the first hand experience of three Revolutionaries and their

experiences in the pub. The article includes discussion of social class in where one would

congregate. Written for a scholarly audience, the article brings out that even though the

Revolutionaries were fighting for Liberty, it was a relative term and a dangerous one. The

authors all had first hand experience in the Revolution and write from different perspectives. The

editor has provided a literature review as well as an extensive bibliography. The summary and

general discussion provided a useful overview of the conclusions drawn by the authors and could

be used in the research paper to support a conclusion. I found this article through the Social

Science Fulltext database. I searched using the keywords taverns, beer and post roads.

Book example (with known authors)

Washington, George and Nathaniel Greene. Military Strategies: On a Limited Budget Boston:

Colonial Press, 1799

Geared for both a broad audience and professional military historians this book provides an

insight into the financial crises involved in the war. The authors show the importance and

reliance on foreign currency and support in the prosecuting of the war. The authors share their

first hand experience of deprivation and include a list of books that they used in planning

military strategy. By common consensus the authors were the best American generals and so

their book is a valuable resource in understanding the relationship between economics and

strategy. Chapter Two of the book is particularly useful since it contains Washington’s and

Greene’s plans for the Battle of Manhattan. I found this book in the Castleton State College

Library online catalog. I searched for the term finances in the Title field and sorted the results by

most recently published. I found a couple of books that looked good in the catalog but this one

was the most useful once I got to the shelf.