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Annotated Bibliography
on an Illinois Ecosystem
For this project, you will find and evaluate five sources related to
your assigned Illinois ecosystem. Your paper will consist of an
annotated bibliography, using
APA
citation style for the entries (1 page); and an introduction (1 page
max.) to the entry list.
The purpose of the assignment is three-fold: it gets you
researching your assigned ecosystem in preparation for leading
discussion during the Ecosystem discussion forums in Weeks 7-9; it
provides you with potential ideas and sources for a research project,
should you choose to focus upon your ecosystem for the final assignment
in 391; and it supplies the class with an extension reading list from
which I'll select assigned readings for weeks 7-9.
Format: 2 pages, single-spaced text, 1" margins, 12-point font size;
double-space between paragraphs, as in this document. Use "hanging
indent" for your list of entries.
Assignment Overview
The annotated entries should be science-based sources related to your assigned ecosystem. Sources may include
websites (e.g., environmental organizations, government sites,
scientific institutions, companies or private organizations, homepages
of scientists or other environmental authorities), technical reports,
scientific papers, books, in-depth magazine or newspaper articles, or
specialized reference works.
Please note that:
- A minimum of two of your annotated sources must be
print-based. Web-accessible articles, reports, or books
that are also available in print (or were at one time) do count as
print sources, however. An example of this would be a
peer-reviewed journal article retrieved from an online database such
as Infotrac or EBSCO Host (via the
RU library homepage).
- Do not cite general reference works. These
include online encyclopedias such as Encarta, Encyclopedia
Britannica, or Wikipedia.
- Do not cited sources which are previously assigned
reading for the class. You need to find sources beyond
those I've already gathered.
- Indicate which one or two of your sources would be most suitable
for an assigned class reading for weeks 7-9. I'll be
picking and choosing amongst your bibliographies for assigned
readings on the five ecosystems for weeks 10-12. You can help
me out by indicating in your annotations which one or two of your
sources would be suitable for the class to read in order to learn
more about your ecosystem. Bear in mind that length and
technical difficulty are appropriate considerations. For
example, a very long technical report written for experts in the
field probably isn't a good choice, though it may be authoritative
and useful as a research source.
The introduction should define and briefly describe your assigned
ecosystem; preview the type, scope, and quality of the sources you
found; and discuss some of the key things you learned about your
ecosystem from your research.
Your annotations should be 4-5 sentences max, and be in your own
words (no quotes, please!). First, summarize the content,
scope, organization, and/or major points of the entry in 2-3 sentences;
then, analyze the quality, value, relevance, significance, etc.
of the entry in 1-2 sentences. Your aim is to inform a reader
unfamiliar with the work about its purpose, scope, and usefulness with
respect to understanding your ecosystem. Here's an example of a
book annotation in APA style:
Botkin, D. B. (1995). Our
natural history: the lessons of Lewis and Clark. New
York: Putnam. A professional ecologist and
conservationist, Daniel B. Botkin analyzes the journals of Lewis and Clark's
1803-6 expedition from Missouri to the Pacific Ocean in light of the
contemporary American landscape and current environmental
concerns.
Interwoven
among discussions of Lewis and Clark’s natural history and narrative
of their long journey (the book serves as a nice introduction to the
explorers as well as a different look at the significance of their work)
are discussions of ecological issues and management problems experienced
by Botkin and other scientists. Each chapter contains personal
vignettes of Botkin’s retracing of Lewis and Clark’s path in order
to assess how the landscape has changed.
Botkin argues we must recover our “natural history”--not only
by gathering raw information on species abundance and the shape of the
land, but also by analyzing the environmental legacy of the American
West and its relation to present controversies, such as habitat
destruction, species extinction, and ecosystem management.
A major theme is the inherent variability of nature, rather than
its assumed constancy.
Tools and Tips for Finding Sources
- 391 guide to
finding and evaluating sources in the library and on the web
- Roosevelt's Library: check out this
Research Tutorial;
then look for books,
articles, and reference works; excellent journal article databases
include EBSCO (especially the Academic Search Premier and GreenFile
collections) and JSTOR.
- Web-based sources
related to BGS 391, organized by subject
- A good example of a source for articles about the Chicago region is
the online publication,
Chicago
Wilderness Journal. The CW Journal also maintains
an online
archive which allows you to view all the issues from Fall 2003
onward. I've used this journal for assigned readings on
Chicago-area ecosystems before, and they're appropriate because even
though they contain technical and sometimes quantitative information,
they're written for a general rather than highly specialized audience.
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Mike Bryson
Associate Professor
College of
Professional Studies
Roosevelt University
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Last updated
10/18/09
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