Annotated Bibliographies

How do I choose my resources?

You don't have to read the entire article before you decide whether it will be useful.  Here are some decision points.  (A video walkthrough of the process is below.)

• When you're looking at the search results page, you can immediately filter out everything that is NOT full-text.  (Full-text means the library has access to the entire article.)
• You can immediately filter out everything that is too old (either in the parameters of the assignment or in your judgment.  Just keep in mind that scholarly publishing moves slowly.)
• Now, scan the title.  Academic titles are usually wordy for a reason-- the authors want to be as specific as possible about their topic and methodology.  If nothing in the title looks relevant to your question, move on to the next article in the list.
• If the title looks relevant to your question, click on it to get to a page with information about the article:
  • Author affiliations are here
  • You can click to a journal's page to make sure it's peer-reviewed
  • You will see subject terms.  Do any of the subject terms look related to your question?  If not, go back to the search results and scan the next title
• If the subject terms look related, now read the abstract.  [If you're looking for academic, peer-reviewed articles, here is where you make sure the item is not an editorial, letter, or book review.  Those will appear in academic, peer-reviewed journals, but are NOT peer-reviewed.]
• If the abstract looks good, save the article.  Email it to yourself using tools on the database page and download the .pdf if available. Copy and paste the correctly formatted citation into your working Works Cited page.  (NEVER count on remembering a title!). 
  • Some scholars prefer to read the first few paragraphs of the article and the last few paragraphs before saving the article. However, once you start reading any part of the article itself, you should save it and note it in order to avoid accidental plagiarism when you are writing later.
• In the interest of efficiency, many scholars will save several articles after reading the abstracts, rather than stopping to read the articles right away.
• If you look at a couple of pages of results and don't see anything that fits, try a different database.  After that, consult with a librarian!  We can help you think of search terms, troubleshoot searches, and help you look at your results. (https://hccs.libanswers.com) (Also, my contact information is on the "Home" page of this guide.)

You might be wondering if you should collect all your possible resources before you start annotating.

Reasons to start annotating while you're still looking for resources:

• You can find other relevant resources while looking at the citations of the resources you have already found
• Carefully reading resources in order to write a good annotation can help you think of different search terms or search queries
• You can spread out the work and take breaks from one part of the work while still making progress

Reasons to collect resources first and then start annotating:

• You have limited time available for searching databases, whether because of using a shared computer, wifi difficulties, or another issue
• You like to focus on one task at a time
• Your professor requires you to submit the resources before you start annotations
• You want a bigger picture of what is available

The answer is to choose the strategy that works best for you and your assignment. 

While you are searching the databases, keep your research question in mind.

Where do I find resources?

Try to start with a general HCC database like the ones listed below.  Start your search with a general keyword related to your topic.  For example, if your research question is "How does air pollution affect low-income people in Houston?", you might start with the keyphrases "air pollution," "low income," and "Houston."

If you are having trouble thinking of keywords, contact an HCC librarian through our chat service: Ask a Librarian. If we are not online, we will get back to you as soon as possible.

We have a complete list of all of our databases, which you can sort by Program, Subject, Format, or Vendor.

https://library.hccs.edu/az.php