ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY- 2018

PHLS 8334 Research in Counseling Psychology

University of Houston

  1. WHAT IS AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY?

An annotated bibliography is a list of citations of 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 cited paper.

  1. ANNOTATIONS VS. ABSTRACTS

An abstractis apurely descriptive summary often found at the beginning of scholarly journal articles or in periodical indexes. Annotations are descriptiveand critical, in that in the annotations wewant to capture information (e.g. theoretical propositions, logical arguments, findings;types of measures used to assess construct of interest) that will be useful in formulating the conceptual framework for the proposed study.

  1. PURPOSE OF ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR EPSY 8334
  • Encourage critical thinking about the content of the papers one reads, their place within the area of of study, and their relation/application to one’s own research and ideas
  • Situates one’s study and topic in a continuing professional conversation about the topic.
  • Provides a way to summarize readings and a place to start writing from.
  1. WHAT TO INCLUDE IN YOUR ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
  1. APA citation of the source
  2. Brief description of the content and focus of the article
  3. Explain how the work relates or may be useful for your research- what it may contribute to formulating the rational for your study (“mine” the Intro-Lit Reviews of articles).
  4. Comment and/or evaluate the authors’ methods or approach to the material, conclusions;
  5. The point of view or perspective from which the study was conducted – (e.g. to reach an audience, to examine a theory).
  6. Relevant links to other work, possibly comparison with sources already on your list.
  7. Your reactions to the source – Here you want to note information the study provides that will be (or may be) helpful to you in formulating the specifics of your planned study in terms of:
  8. Narrow your area of interest.
  9. Articulate testable research question(s)
  10. Identify the variables/constructs embedded in the question.
  11. Provide conceptual definitions for these variables.
  12. Provide operational or these variables
  13. Type of analyses implemented
  14. Notes to yourself of information you are not summarizing but may be useful to come to later (e.g. useful description of exposure and vulnerability theories to explain PTSD differences acrossethnic groups on p. 185)

Next, there are some examples of annotated bibliographies. Depending on the content of specific articles, your summaries may be a bit longer. It is better to paraphrase than to copy and paste for several reasons:

  1. The paraphrasing process will force you to think about the material more deeply,
  2. Your summary will be more readable (and useful in writing your paper) because you will have created a synthesis of the information and,
  3. Some of the paraphrased summaries may be ready to be copied and pasted into your paper.

Alwaysuse quotation marks to identify copy-and pasted verbatim information from sources, to avoid plagiarism.

  1. EXAMPLE ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY: JOURNAL ARTICLE

Read these examples and note which of the elements listed under IV. Above are included in each of the summaries:

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 (4), 541-554.

The authors, used 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 less strong 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: (citation here). Authors explained lack of findings among males in terms of…

Voeltz, L.M. (1980). Children’s attitudes toward handicapped peers. American Journal of MentalDeficiency, 84, 455-464.

As services for severely handicapped children becomeincreasingly available within neighborhood publicschools, children's attitudes toward handicappedpeers in integrated settings warrant attention.Factor analysis of attitude survey responses of 2,392children revealed four factors underlying attitudestoward handicapped peers: social-contact willingness,deviance consequation, and two actual contactdimensions. Upper elementary-age children, girls,

and children in schools with most contact with severely handicapped peers expressed the mostaccepting attitudes. Results of this study suggestthe modifiability of children's attitudes and theneed to develop interventions to facilitate socialacceptance of individual differences in integratedschool settings (Sternlicht and Windholz, 1984, p. 79).

Parts of this handoutwere excerpted from the following online resources: Research & Learning ServicesOlin LibraryCornell University Library Ithaca, NY, USA; andWriting Centers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of North Carolina at Chappell Hill

Annotated Bibliographies: Research Proposal Class Activities

Starting from day one, start-reading articles in your area of interest. As the class progresses you will be able to answer these questions with higher levels of specificity.

  1. Describe your research interests in general, broad terms.
  2. Identify testable research question(s)
  3. Identify the variables/constructs embedded in the question.
  4. Provide conceptual definitions for these variables.
  5. Provide operational definitions for these variables
  6. Develop a conceptual framework for your proposed study
  7. Identify/describe planned analyses

For the following activities, we will form two subgroups for the class:

Students A, B Students C, D, E

In order to address the questions listed above it is necessary to become familiar with the research in the area.

Verbal summary of articles:

In the first few weeks, before we start writing annotated bibliographies, two or three students each class will provide summary of two articles that they read in the previous weeks and talk about how the articles are or are not helpful in formulating potential research questions for their research proposal-

The schedule for summary reports on 2 articles will be as follows:

Week 3 (Jan 31) - Students A, B Week 4 (Feb 07) – Students C, D, E

Week 5 (Feb 14)- Students A, B Week 6 (Feb 21) – StudentsC, D, E

Annotated bibliography

To write the proposal it is necessary to have some system to summarize one’s readings. A place to start is with an Annotated Bibliography. Use the issues numbered a-g above as a way to think about the idea(s) each paper you read for that week maycontribute to your research proposal. Emphasize for each empirical paper, (a) the conceptual framework for the study and (b) the analyses used to examine the research questions.

Starting on Week 7 (From February 28th to ), each week by Sunday midnight, students will send their weekly writing assignment -- annotated bibliography of 2 to 3 articles -- via email to their subgroup(A,B and C,D,E)copying the class instructor. In class, we will dedicate 20-25 minutes for the subgroups to discuss among themselves the write-ups and the emerging research questions of each person.

Make note of articles that report results of regression analyses including moderation and/or mediation analyses.

1