Annotated Bibliography Guidelines

Bio 202L Fall 2013
3) Sources of papers. No more than two papers may be from the same author or the same journal.
DO NOT USE chapters from textbooks, review or summary articles, books, popular magazines
or internet sites (unless they are from an on-line scientific journal). The papers must come from
the primary scientific literature. If you have questions about primary scientific literature, contact
your TA or talk to a librarian. (http://elibrary.unm.edu/csel/) (SGWB pg. 21-35)
NOTE: Review articles are articles that review a concept or technique; they do not describe an
experiment performed by the author(s). Review articles will often provide you with excellent
background information and are a good starting point for learning more about your chosen topic,
but because they do not contain descriptions of original research by the author(s), they are not
appropriate for this assignment.
4) Contents of each annotation (max. 250 words each, without citation). For each paper, include the
following:
A. Full list of authors, full title and journal citation (year, journal name, volume, page numbers;
you MUST follow the citation style used in your Lab Manual Appendix D: Literature Cited
and/or “Writing Scientific Papers” – this can be downloaded from the lab web site). (SGWB
pg. 71-81).
• The article citations should not be included in the word count.
B. Two or three sentences about why the author(s) did the study. This should include the main
problem that identifies the general puzzle the paper attempts to solve (i.e., the broader
relevance; note that sometimes the authors themselves may not even do this very well!). The
goal here is to construct the opening sentences so the reader wants to read the rest of the
annotation.
C. Two to four sentences of background information required to understand the study's
significance.
D. Three to five sentences about the primary methods (NO LISTS!!) and results of the study.
E. Two to three sentences summarizing the general conclusions of the study, including the
answer to the question stated at the beginning.
5) Summary of all 3 annotations (250 words max.). After the third annotation, include a two part
summary that includes:
A. Overall conclusion - an overview of the combined results of all three studies indicating why
the general issue they address is important; this could include one or more key questions that
remain to be answered (approx. 125 words).
B. Your personal interest - what you personally thought was most interesting about the issue(s)
addressed by the three papers (approx. 125 words).
Both your 'overall conclusion' and your 'personal interests' should be well reasoned and carefully
argued. The key to a carefully argued overall conclusion and a compelling statement of personal
interest lies in a careful choice of the subject area and articles to be annotated.
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