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Spark 001 (Nies)

Using RefWorks to Build an Annotated Bibliography

Some Annotated Bibliography Tips

A bibliography is just a list of the sources that you used to research a topic. Your final project may not even cite all of these sources. 

Thanks okay. 

An annotated bibliography includes these citations but also your summarization and assessment of each source. This can be helpful when trying to find a particular item later and can help make the writing process easier. Below is a general format. 

The citation or bibliographic information in whatever format you're using. (APA, MLA, IEEE...)

A summary of the article or resource. What are the main arguments or points made? How would you describe this article in class or to a colleague?

An assessment of its' usability. Do the conclusions of the article make sense? Does the article seem reliable? 

And how you can use it in your research. Is this source related to your research? How can you use this in your research? Does it bring up other questions that you want to answer? Has it impacted how you look at your topic?

 

Purdue OWL website for annotated bibliographies

Add Annotations to Abstract Fields

To create an annotated bibliography in RefWorks in APA style, follow these instructions.

Overall: Add an annotation to each citation you intend to use in your annotated bibliography.

1. Highlight / select a citation and click on the pencil icon at the far right panel.

2. Locate the Abstract field.

Edit Citation with Pencil Icon - Screenshot from RefWorks

3. Type in your annotation. Remember that an annotation is NOT an abstract or a summary. However, the Abstract field is what you will use in RefWorks.

Add annotation to the Abstract field - screenshot from RefWorks

4. After you have annotated your citation, click Save at the upper right of the editing panel.

5. As desired, proceed to add annotations to your other citations.

Generate the Reference List

6. Select the items you wish to appear in your Reference List.  If you are in a folder with those items, they will be automatically selected.

7. Click the Create Bibliography menu and select Create Bibliography.

Select Create Bibliography in Menu - RefWorks screenshot

8. Search for APA 7th in the search box. Then scroll down and select APA 7th - No Case Changes (No Title Casing), DOI:https://doi.org/, Annotated option.

Select APA 7th Annotated Style - RefWorks screenshot

9. Your list of References will display. Citations will be ordered correctly with the annotations included. Click Copy to Clipboard and copy/paste into your Word document.

Reference List with Annotations - RefWorks Screenshot