Seminar in Natural Science (online)

  PLS 391 

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 8-10; 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 supplementary reading material for weeks 8-10.

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  • Do not cite general reference works.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 7-8.  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

 Mike Bryson
Associate Professor
College of Professional Studies
Roosevelt University

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Last updated 03/13/10