Guidelines for Essays With Annotated Bibliographies
An essay should include an
introduction, a body (or story), and a conclusion. One might choose to divide
the paper into more sections but these are the minimum requirements. However it
is prudent to caution that when writing short essay papers (typically less than
10 pages) it is often best to limit the number of sections in the paper.
The purpose of the introduction is
to tell the reader what the essay is about, i.e., the topic covered and to tell
the reader what to expect. The introduction also should alert the reader to the
nature of the essay, i.e., whether it is research on a particular topic
formulated after a literature review, a paper about a program or service, or an
essay that takes a position on the topic. The body of the paper should take the
reader on a well thought out journey. This includes reviewing other works, the
literature, and making observations based on these findings. Think of the body
of the essay as an opportunity to tell the reader a story about the topic. The
conclusion is an opportunity to bring your thoughts together in some way that
provides closure for the reader. The conclusion should state what the essay accomplished,
did it do what it set out to do? Did the essay ask questions in the
introduction that were addressed in the body of the essay and were answers
found to these questions? If the essay was intended to inform the reader about
something, the conclusion is where the author can briefly restate some of the
main points made in the body of the paper and organize them in a sort of short
hand format.
Use the guidelines for written
work. It is important to credit other authors when you use their work. Not
citing others' work is plagiarism. Use the "Publication Manual: of the
American Psychological Association, 4th Edition" for formatting
your work. Each essay should include a reference section. The reference section
should include the appropriate bibliographical citation for each book, journal,
magazine, interview, web site, or other reference used in the essay. The
reference section only includes the literature you cited in your paper not all
of the literature you reviewed. Avoid using footnotes as much as possible. It
is usually better to include this information in the body of the paper.
However, if you choose to use footnotes they should occur on the page where
they are referenced not at the end of the paper.
An annotation is a short synopsis
or explanation of a book, journal article, report, or other form of literary
work. The length of each annotation is dependent on the particular work but
should not be less than two or three paragraphs nor more than one and one half
pages. An annotated bibliography is a collection of annotations. For our
purposes, an essay with annotated bibliography will include the essay written
in the general format described above, a group of annotations, and a list of
references. The essay should reference more works than are included in the
annotated bibliography and all works cited including the literature in the
annotated bibliography should be include in the reference section. The length
of the essay and the number of annotations will be noted in each particular
assignment.
