ENGL 101- Housman

Watch this short video from Brock University to understand what an annotated bibliography is and how it supports your research

Example

Citation:

Wilson, Alex, and Jessica Boehland. “Small Is Beautiful: U.S. House Size, Resource Use, and the Environment.” Journal of Industrial Ecology,                        vol.9,  no. ½, 2005, pp. 277-287. Academic Search Complete, doi: 10.1162/1088198054084680. Tammy Strobel

Annotation:

Wilson has spent multiple decades in the environmental construction field and green design while Boehland has a master’s degree from Yale University’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. The authors both write for Environmental Building News, and their primary concern is with the energy efficiency of single family home design. The article is written for those researching smaller homes from a broad perspective of environmental public policy. The overall argument is that the building and promoting of smaller homes is important in reducing the country’s energy and resource consumption. The authors build their argument through demographic information about home ownership and construction, a survey of the trade and popular literature on the home building industry, and their own perspective on effective home design. They found that home size in the US has drastically increased while the population has decreased. Smaller homes, even when built less efficiently, use less energy and resources. The findings provide a good overall view of the evolution of the housing market as well as how home design affects resource and energy consumption. Plus, many of the resources are interviews with green designers and home builders, which provides unique perspectives on the issue. Although not directly connected to the Tiny House movement, this article provides useful information that illustrates the changes in the housing market, establishes the relationship of house size to energy consumption, and relates practical design tactics for smaller spaces.

 Here are some things you might want to include in your annotation

• Author: Who are they? What are their credentials
• Bias: Does the author have a bias? There may or may not be author bias depending on the topic and the author's background
• Reader: Who is the intended audience? Example:  "The article is written for those researching smaller homes from a broad perspective of environmental public policy."
• Argument: What is the main argument of the work?
• Research: How was the research conducted (methodologies used, data analyzed, and/or a particular theory/theories applied)?
• Conclusions:  What were the author’s conclusions? Were they supported by the research/evidence?
• Assessment: What type of information does this resource provide that is relevant to your topic?

• Reflection:  How does this source support or contradict your argument

For more examples of annotated bibliographies check out Purdue Owl