Research Guides: WRPR 126: Radical Black Feminisms (HC): Tips for Research

Composing Annotated Bibliographies

As the name suggests, an annotated bibliography is a bibliography, but one that includes a brief summary and assessment of each resource. In assessing resources, you want to comment not only on their quality, but also on how they fit into your own argument.

For more information on constructing annotated bibliographies, see these two excellent guides:

Writing an Annotated Bibliography
Here is a PPT. showing you how to write an Annotated Bibliography. If you need additional support feel free to reach out to Dee.
Guide to Annotated Bibliographies by the Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL)
A guide on how and why to create annotated bibliographies, with examples of annotated citations in MLA, APA, and Chicago style.
Brief Guide to Annotated Bibliographies from Duke University
A short guide to constructing annotated bibliographies.

Many annotated bibliographies also require writing an abstract:

Writing an Abstract
Many annotated bibliographies also require abstracts. This guide from the Writing Center at UNC provides some helpful explanations.

Using Resources When off Campus

Accessing the Libraries' Digital Resources

If you start at this course research guide or the Tripod library catalog, when you click on an online resource link you will be prompted to sign in and authenticate through the Off-campus Access page .

Off-campus Access through Tripod

Use E-ZProxy when off campus to access campus resources: https://ezproxy.haverford.edu/login
Use your email user name (no @haverford.edu) and password to log on. You will need to navigate through Tripod, rather than typing URLs in the search box for your entire session. The proxy prefix has to remain in your URL in order to access digital materials to which Haverford subscribes.

Understand the Process

Information research is an iterative process, meaning a cycle rather than a straight line. Assuming you have a research question in mind, you may follow a process like this:
- Brainstorm search words -->
- Explore initial search results -->
- Refine your research question, and add or remove search words based on your initial search -->
- Conduct a more targeted search -->
- Repeat! -->
  <-- <-- <--

When getting started, I will sometimes Google my topic to help me find more vocabulary and ideas. Once you're ready to find scholarly literature, you'll want to use a library catalog, journal database, or Google Scholar to help you find appropriate sources, but a general Google search can be helpful in the brainstorming phase.