The Reflective Annotated Bibliography:
A Tip Sheet for Critical Reading & Writing
Adapted from The Reflective Annotated Bibliography by
Dr. Mark McBeth, Associate Professor of English,
CUNY Graduate Center and John Jay College of Criminal Justice
The reflective annotated bibliography (RefAnnBib) works as a research device, having
been adapted from the traditional academic document called an annotated
bibliography. While the conventional form only includes a bibliographic entry and a
précis1, this adapted annotated bibliography adds the following:
1. Tip sheet on author and publication for ethos (to assess the credibility of the
source)
2. Terminology/key word list
3. Reflection component
4. Quotables section
• These additional sections help you as a writer differentiate between “objective”
reporting of the author’s ideas from your “subjective” editorial remarks about
the reading (aka, your opinions, speculations, counter-arguments, questions).
• The RefAnnBib also acts as a mnemonic device to help you retain
terminologies, key terms and phrases, and an author’s memorable quotes.
• While this reflective annotated bibliography could conceivably help you review
for exams or store information for future pieces of research scholarship, you
can also use it to help you formulate paragraphs for an essay.
ENG 2100 Writing I • Fall 2015 • Dr. Lisa Blankenship
1 pré·cis (prāˈsē): a summary or abstract of a text or speech
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RefAnnBib Assignment: Hard copy due class time, Th, 11/5
Name: ________________________________
1) What questions about race, specifically the Black Lives Matter movement,
interest you, based on our readings in the course and your knowledge coming
in to the course?
Research questions:
2) List (at least) 4 possible sources for your research project, one of which should
be a peer-reviewed academic source. These citations should be in MLA format.
For directions on how to cite using MLA format (or any citation style), see the
Purdue Owl resource online. Indicate whether the source is academic or
popular. For example:
Source 1 (peer-reviewed academic):
Weber, Joanna. “The Prison Industrial Complex.” Journal of Criminology. 57.4 (Winter
2014): 481-506.
Source 2 (popular):
Smith, Gerald. “Black Lives Matter.” The New York Times 17 October 2015: Web.
3) Fill in the sections below for at least one of your sources above. Delete the
section descriptions. Note the font style for each section.
Part 1: Bibliographic Entry
This section gives the publication information: author, date, title, book or
journal, vol., page numbers, print or web. (Font style: Calibri Bold, 11 point.)
Source:
Fitzgerald, Jill. “Research on Revision in Writing.” Review of Educational
Research. 57.4 (Winter 1987): 481-506.
Part 2: Tip Sheet on Author & Source
This section is your “tip sheet” on the ethos of the writer and the
publication forum for your source.
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The Writer: Google the writer and include all of the following you can find, as
relevant and available:
• affiliations (university, government, industry/company;
• political leanings;
• relevant background information such as other publications, topics s/he
has written about in the past.
• Font style:
o Writer’s name: Calibri Bold, 11 point
o Description: Calibri Regular, 11 point
The Source: Google the source and include the following as available and
relevant to your source:
Intended audience and genre:
• Indicate either “popular” or “academic” source and the genre
• A popular source is directed to the public
o Common genres: news article, film/documentary, book
published by a non-academic press—i.e. the publisher is not a
university press, website, magazine, newspaper, etc. Not peerreviewed.
• An academic source is primarily read by researchers in various fields of
study
o Common genres: academic journal articles (e.g. Present Tense:
A Journal of Rhetoric in Society); books published by an
academic press (usually the term “university” will be the name of
the publisher). Peer-reviewed and therefore held to higher
scrutiny before publication.
Reason for choosing this source:
• For example: seems provocative/informative/interesting/kairotic/widely
cited and influential/will hold weight for my audience
• Font style:
o Source: Calibri Bold, 11 point
o Description: Calibri Regular, 11 point
Sample:
Dr. Jill Fitzgerald
influential researcher in the field of education, affiliated with the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill, recently retired after 32 years; served as senior associate dean
and provost, director of graduate studies, published more than 100 articles
“Research on Revision in Writing” Review of Educational Research. 57.4 (Winter
1987): 481-506.
academic; peer-reviewed journal article; Fitzgerald seems like a credible writer, and
although this source is a bit outdated it’s cited by 3 of my other sources and therefore
must be important; her ethos could held lend weight and credibility to my argument
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Part 3: Terminology/Key Words
This section lists key words that the author uses that indicate a
relationship to a disciplinary discourse community. You may also use this
section to list unfamiliar vocabulary. (Notice the differentiation that I make
between “vocabulary” (general words) and terminology/key terms
(vocabulary used within a particular, sometimes specialized discourse
community.) Font style: Calibri Regular, 11 point.
Sample:
Coding System
Cognitive Theory
Error-Detection Method
Linear Model
Participant-Observer Method
Problem-Solving View
Process
Process-Tracing Method
Recursiveness
Revision
Simulation-by-Intervention Method
Stage Model
Subprocess
Part 4: Précis
This section articulates an objective summary of the reading. It should
only convey exactly what the author states in the article without including
your opinions. (1) It should state the author’s primary claim and, maybe
sub-claims. What argument does the author want to assert? (2) It should
acknowledge the types of evidence the author uses to support this claim.
What data/facts/evidence does the author use to justify the claims of the
article? (3) It should reveal the interpretations that this author arrives at
through the claims and evidence. What point or conclusion does the
author surmise? (Font Style: Calibri Regular, 11 point)
Sample:
From a two-decade period, this author compiles research studies, perspectives, and
re-definitions about revision and its role in the improvement of writing. According to
the author, these last twenty years of revision studies have reshaped the definition of
meaningful revision to move beyond editorial actions. As the author states, “This
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paper presents a brief historical perspective on the development of the meaning of
revision, presents findings from research on revision, and, finally, discusses limitations
of the research” (481). Moreover, this survey of revision research considers various
aspects of revision decision-making, including age, grade-level, expertise, and
instructional response (aka, response to drafts). After summarizing and analyzing the
revision studies and limitations, the author suggests further research studies that
future composition/rhetoric researchers should pursue.
Part 5: Reflection
This section reveals your opinion about what the author has stated. Do
you agree or disagree? What speculations do you want to make about this
author’s methods of research? What questions do you have? What don’t
you understand? What other information do you need to look up to better
understand this article? This unconventional section puts forward your
ideas. (Font style: Calibri 11, italics)
Sample:
This article provides an historical viewpoint for my articles albeit one which needs
updating since 1987. Along with articles from 1987 to the present, this information
provides a framework to discuss revision and the types of assessment systems in
which productive revision—beyond editorial actions (aka: surface characteristics such
as spelling, punctuation, and sentence correction)—can take place. The point accrual
system that I suggest offers students a course policy system in which they can take
control of their earned grade and see the value in revisionary efforts. By reviewing
these methodologies of tracking revision habits, I can make a better argument for the
types of classroom policies we might put in place to encourage, even instigate,
revision.
If American public schools ask students to do little revision (and most of my students
come from public schools) then incoming first-year students must be “unlearned” of
the counter-productive habits that they were taught about revising in high school. If
conditioned for twelve years not to revise, the freshman year composition course must
place some re-conditioning structures in place to induce students to alter their
normativized habits of textual-stagnation (Note to self: What would be the opposite
term for revising in terms of writing? Textual stagnating/textual complacency/textual
satisfying/ stifling/ impairing / ossifying/idling/constipating/fossilizing. I’ll need to figure
out this specialized antonym for revising/revision.
Part 6: Quotables
This section directly quotes one to three statements that the author made in
the article that you feel really exemplify its claims or interpretations. Or, choose
sentences that you feel the author expressed exceptionally well. IMPORTANT:
Include page number(s) where you find the quote. Place quotation marks
around the chosen phrase and make sure you cite the phrase verbatim. (Font
style: Calibri Regular, 11 point)
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Sample:
“[T]heory has not always mirrored the practitioner’s belief that revision has a central
role in writing. Early views of revision were theoretically dry and uninteresting” (481).
“Most recently, Scardamalia and Bereiter (1986) coined the term ‘reprocessing’ to refer
to the mental aspects of revision […] Reprocessing spans everything from editing for
mistakes to reformulating goals. Revision is a special case of reprocessing, applied to
actual texts” (790).
“Revision means making any changes at any point in the writing process. It involves
identifying discrepancies between intended and instantiated text, deciding what could
or should be changed in the text and how to make desired changes, and operating,
that is, making the desired changes. Changes may or may not affect meaning of the
text, and they may be major or minor. Also, changes may be made in the writer’s mind
before being instantiated in written text, at the time text is first written, and/or after
text is first written [list of authors contributing to this definition]” (484).
“Expert professional writers made one meaning-related revision for every two surface
changes; advanced college student writers made one for every three; and
inexperienced college student writers made one for every seven” (492).
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Conventional Annotated Bibliography Example
Ellis, M., & Wright, R. (2005). Assimilation and differences between the settlement
patterns of individual immigrants and immigrant households. Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America,
102(43), 15325- 15330. Retrieved from JSTOR database.
Ellis and Wright focus on immigrant settlement patterns. It looks at the different types
of household they may have which include Immigrant only household, immigrant/
second generation household, immigrant/ third generation-plus household,
,
immigrant/second generation/ third generation-plus household, second generation
only household,
, second generation/ third generation-plus household, and third
generation only household. The research compares the household immigrants to
individual immigrants. They conclude that household processes are part of the
assimilation immigrants go through. In this paper, what natives see of immigrants was
important for my paper.
Vigdor, J. L., (2009). From immigrants to Americans. Laham: Rowman and
Littlefield Publishers.
Vigdor discusses about immigrants and how they affect America as a whole. Vigdor
brings in economics, sociology, and the linguistics. With each chapter, a new kind of
assimilation is brought in from economics, to linguistics, and officially meaning
becoming a citizen. For my paper, it was important for me to look at the different types
of assimilation.
Zhou, M., (1997). Growing up American: the challenge confronting immigrant
children and children of immigrants
Annual Review of Sociology, 23, 63-95. Retrieved from JSTOR database.
Zhou analyzes the assimilation done by the children of immigrants and immigrant
children. He realizes that there is a greater difference in the way the children assimilate
and their parents do. The children are more prone to assimilate than their parents. This
is because they want to be American. Despite being born in another country they do
not have a great connection with their motherland like their parents due. So they try to
assimilate and make something of their own in America. By doing this they may lose
the part of them that is immigrant, something their parents fear. Zhou also looks at all
the types of assimilation: cultural/behavioral, structural, identificational, attitudereceptional,
behavior-receptional, and civic assimilation. This study was important for
my paper because of its separation of all the generation of immigrants and how they
assimilate.