An annotated bibliography is a list
of citations followed by brief (200ish word) descriptive and evaluative
paragraphs for each reference. It is
a compilation of the sources you will draw upon for writing your literature
review. Your annotated bibliography
should contain 15-20 peer-reviewed, scholarly
sources published between 2014 and 2024.
Annotations should summarize the findings and ideas relevant to your
research, highlighting any weaknesses or biases in the material.
Citations: Your
alphabetized list of citations should be in APA format. For each journal
article, include the author, date of publication, title of article, title of
journal, volume and page numbers. Books
should also include information on place of publication and publisher. Examples and instructions for other sources,
such as white papers, fact sheets, and technical reports are posted on Sakai
under Resources.
The
Process: After
you have identified your research question you will:
1) Read
scholarly writings related to your subject. Focus on journal articles, book
chapters, government publications, and other peer-reviewed sources. Read the abstract and summaries before
selecting which documents to read in full.
Select the sources most useful for your research published 2014-2024.
2) Cite the
text in APA style. Citations accompanied by their annotations should be
alphabetized by authors’ last names.
3) Write a
concise, 200ish-word annotation that (a) summarizes the main ideas of the text and
(b) evaluates it. Identify what is
useful about the text for your research and note any weaknesses. You can
compare how a document relates to another cited work, critique authors’
viewpoints, highlight methodological problems, or point out flaws in arguments.
Writing
Style: Annotated bibliographies are formal types of academic writing. Be sure to:
· Use full
sentences with no contractions.
·
Be concise, referring to only the most significant
ideas in the texts that are related to your RQ.
·
Do NOT describe methodological details unless it is
critical to the source and how you plan to use it.
·
Your paragraphs should NOT repeat information that
is already in your citation, such as titles.
·
Only cite sources within an annotation if you also
provide an annotation for the cited source.
·
Arrange in alphabetical order by first authors’
last names
Example Beginning of Annotated
Bibliography
Research
Question: How and why do
job stress and job satisfaction vary across upper, middle, and lower classes?
Ehrenreich, B. (2014). Nickel and dimed: On (not) getting by in
America. New York: Henry Holt and Company.
This nonfiction book is based on an experienced journalist’s investigation
of whether it is possible for someone to live on a minimum-wage in America.
Taking jobs as a waitress, a maid in a cleaning service, and a Walmart sales
employee, Ehrenreich summarizes and reflects on her work, her relationships
with fellow workers, and her financial struggles in each situation. Most
relevant for my research, Ehrenreich describes what it like to work hard, long
hours but still be unable to afford basic housing and food. Her employers were harsh and unsympathetic to
poor working conditions. Ehrenreich
highlights numerous sources of job stress, including physical exhaustion, fear
of violence, and lack of opportunities to move to higher paying positions. Ehrenreich conducted her research in
1998. Her findings on the working poor
during a strong economy may not be as relevant for people in 2024. Furthermore, as a White woman, Ehrenreich did
not experience racial discrimination and prejudice that so many low-income
workers endure. Furthermore, she did not
face the additional struggle of parenting during her experiment. Thus, the book does not rely on nationally
representative data nor reflect the full range of stressors low income workers
endure. Ehrenreich’s research does, however, concur with Kossek and Lautsch’s
(2018) finding that work flexibility is rarely available to low wage earners,
limiting their life flexibility and increasing their stress.
Kish-Gephart, J. et al. (2023). Social class
and work: A review and organizing framework. Journal of Management, 49(1),
509-565.
The authors review and synthesize
400+ multi-disciplinary research articles on social class and work. They find
that workers’ mobility within and between organizations is influenced by
employees’ cultural, economic, and social capital