Organizing and Maintaining a set of Research Notes or Annotated Bibliography

Whether you choose an annotated bibliography or research reading notes, your submission should include the following:

• Summary: A brief summary (around 250 words) of where your research stands at present. Identify:
  • Parts of the process that you feel you’ve made substantial progress on
  • Major tasks or obstacles that still lie ahead
  • Any other thoughts and reflections at this stage
• Complete APA-style references – for at least 5 sources. Before or right after each set of notes is fine.
  • At least two (2) of these sources must be articles from peer-reviewed journals of research (Links to an external site.)
  • The others may also be peer-reviewed articles, or may be any other resource that you choose
• Reading Notes – notes taken as you review possible sources for your paper or seek out information.
• Annotations: Examples would include a discussion of how you intend to use a source in your paper or an evaluation of the credibility of the source, as well as any notes to yourself about how your writing process is progressing and any obstacles, etc.
• Proper Attribution: It is your responsibility to ensure that all direct quotes, even those of just a few words in length, appear in quotation marks with an in-text citation following, even at this early stage of research. For paraphrases and other summaries, the page numbers or paragraph numbers are sufficient. In short, if you are cutting and pasting in your notes, 1.) you’re likely doing it wrong, 2.) you really need to cite each quote!

SUM: If you read it, write it, or think it for your research project, it should be included in your research project notes.