individual Business Essay

What is an annotated bibliography?

An annotated bibliography provides a mini review of articles (in this case two) from the academic literature. For the purpose of this subject, the annotated bibliography assists you in starting your essay topic by searching the scholarly databases to find two contrasting views or perspectives on the essay topic that you have selected.

These articles from peer reviewed journals need to be more recent (from 2011 to present) to show currency within the literature).

This exercise can also be beneficial to assist your group with the case report which also requires critical analysis of academic journals.

When we refer to views or perspectives, this can mean one article may be a concept based paper that introduces a theoretical or conceptual framework whilst the other article might have empirical research basis and be quantitative in its focus.

Alternatively, the authors may different in their views about a phenomenon and have different arguments in relation to the topic or field.

Included in the annotated bibliography is a list of citations, each followed by a short paragraph, called the annotation, up to 150 words in total length, commenting on the sources cited.

You need to demonstrate paraphrasing and critical review of the articles and also in a final paragraph, point out the contrasts between the respective articles summarising, reflecting and, evaluating or analysing the sources.

What is a hurdle rate and why write an annotated bibliography?

In BMO3352 it has been our experience that students can sometimes need some guidance on getting started with the essay task and often need feedback on how they are progressing. This “hurdle rate” process can assist students to take corrective action and improve the quality of their work and means whilst it is not formally assessed, it is a step in essay development that needs to be completed for the following reasons:

· To introduce the particular research topic and familiarise students with some themes and issues within that topic area

· To demonstrate the quality and depth of research and understanding

· To demonstrate how students summarise and interpret and critically analyse articles and if there areas needed for improvement

· To demonstrate if students are following academic conventions such as Harvard Referencing system and citations acknowledgements to avoid plagiarism research

· To receive feedback if students are able to proceed and incorporate the preliminary literature review into their essay or whether they need to resubmit to improve the quality of the annotated review either by changing the selection of articles or improving the wording.

What kind of academic resources should be used for an annotated bibliography?

In your annotated bibliography you should only review materials of an academic nature from academic

peer reviewed journals. This means using a key word search in scholarly databases such as Google Scholar, Emerald and EbscoHost (Academic Premier and Business Source Premier. Google Scholar has a link highlighted on the menu page in the Library section. If you search for databases and look in the index under E, you will find Emerald and also EbscoHost as different search engines.

What am I looking for when searching for the articles?

Your task is to locate articles or journals most relevant to the essay topic you have chosen from the three listed in the unit guide. Use a range of key words to best reflect the areas related to the topic. You learn more about searching the databases in class.

There may be a clearly defined question or problem set in your essay topic, so you will be searching

for specific information that addresses that research question. This exercise is highlighting the importance of doing research that representative range of contrasting sources from within the academic research which minimises bias(where you select articles you like but may not have from or lack of depth of insight about your topic.

How do I create an annotated bibliography?

The process for creating an annotated bibliography is outlined below:

1. First you need to decide on which of the essay topics you choose as the annotated bibliography task must relate to the chosen essay topic.

2. It is useful to read a general chapter or section on the topic from a textbook to gain a broad picture of the topic.

3. Conduct some key word searches in the academic databases. Start perhaps with Google Scholar and locate academic sources on your particular topic.

4. Consider if you need to do an advanced search (this facility exists if you explore the search engines to help refine the search.

5. Select two contrasting articles (perhaps one from Emerald and One from EbscoHost and also from different journals eg. one from the Journal of International management and another could be from the Journal of International Business studies).

6. Read the abstracts and conclusion sections of the shortlist of articles and note the different approaches.

7. Prepare a template to include the two annotated bibliographies (Use examples such those in the links below).

8. Read the format and ensure the articles are correctly cited following Harvard Reference conventions.

9. As you read make notes and reflections in the corresponding white space margins (This is called signposting technique).

10. Note in your critical reading what research questions the author(s) is or are addressing and any limitations in their approach or methodology. Does the approach contradict the other article?

How do I source other information about annotated bibliographies?

The following are useful links?

Further resources