Annotated Bibliography

Geog 620, Theory and Practice of Geography

Winter, 2008

Goal of the Exercise:  To review some key books and/or articles on topics that relate to your research questions.  The purpose is to insure that you develop an understanding of the context for your proposed research. 

Components/Structure  of the Annotated Bibliography:

1.  Introduction: Open your annotated lit review with a one or two paragraph statement outlining the scope of your annotated bibliography, your reasons for choosing the references you looked at, and the key points you learned from the literature.  The references you choose should represent a coherent body of intellectual thought (e.g., don’t just select the first 10 sources listed in GeoBase).

2. Annotated Bibliography:  The annotated bibliography follows the introduction.  Your total bibliography should be 10 to 15 pages in length (single spaced, 12 pt font ).  Each annotated bibliography entry must include:

• A full citation:

                                                               i.      Author(s) [include ALL authors – do NOT use the term et al.], date. Title.  Journal/Book title.  Volume number/Publisher, pages.

                                                             ii.      For example:  Marcus, W.A.,  Hansen, A.H., and Pool, J.K., 2001, Remote sensing of river habitats using high spatial resolution hyperspectral imagery. International Journal of Remote Sensing 5(1):231-244.

For articles:

• An overview  paragraph:

                                                               i.      what the article was about

                                                             ii.      perspectives/background of the authors writing the article

                                                            iii.      advantages/drawbacks of the approaches discussed in the article

• A thesis relevance paragraph that discusses points in the article of particular relevance to your research questions.

            The two (not three or more) paragraphs should not be a paraphrasing of the abstract, but should focus on what is relevant to understanding the perspective taken by the authors and the specific utility (or lack thereof) of the article to your work..

                  For books:

• An overview  paragraph:

                                                               i.      what the book was about

                                                             ii.      perspectives/background of the authors writing the book

                                                            iii.      advantages/drawbacks of the approaches discussed in the book

• A thesis relevance page that discusses points in the book of particular relevance to your research questions.

3. Optional – but very helpful to you in the long run: A digital bibliography in EndNote or some other citation software format

Due Date:  Monday, February 18 in class