Created in Spring 2017 for ENGL 6702

Description

An annotated bibliography that was a deliverable for its own assignment, although its ultimate goal was to help prepare information for a literature review.

Critical Reflection

This was the first time in my academic career that I wrote an annotated bibliography. I had heard the term before, but I thought that it was something found in the back of non-fiction books -- I did not realize that it is a type of document that is routinely prepared by scholars.

Writing this annotated bibliography was a bit of a struggle. I remember studying lots of examples of correctly-written annotated bibliographies for reference.

This document was also my introduction to APA-style citations. All of the papers I wrote as an undergrad used MLA-style citations. Similar to theories about how a first language can affect the use of subsequently learned languages, my memories of MLA style hindered my efforts to use APA style.¹ The web server that hosts Perdue University's OWL web site² was probably very tired of looking at my IP address!

Some of my classmates seemed to be both familiar with annotated bibliographies and APA style, so I worried that I was a bit behind where I should be in terms of research skills.

Re-reading the document four years later, the introduction seems rather clunky to me. It made my eyes glaze over, to be honest. When I next write an annotated bibliography, I hope to create a more fluid and engaging introduction. When I wrote this document, I was struggling to make sure it was correct and did not have much energy to spare for making it more of an enjoyable read.

Overall Satisfaction on a Scale of 1 to 7: 5