Navigating Annotated Bibliography Challenges: Answers to Essential Essay Questions

Where the best place would be to get references/sources from for our bibliography?

QUESTION: Where the best place would be to get references/sources from for our bibliography?

RESPONSE: The library resources are the best place for you to find reliable and appropriate sources for your assignment. However, most articles are available via Google Scholar, so this can also prove to be a good place to look if you search effectively.

QUESTION: In one of the seminars a few weeks ago, you mentioned some people who we could go to in order to have our work checked to make sure that it is up to standard. Could you please tell me the group of people I need to go and see?

RESPONSE: I was referring to the Academic Skills Unit (ASK). Contact details can be found via myport

QUESTION: I was wondering if I could meet you or mike tomorrow?

RESPONSE: To ensure parity and fair treatment across all students, Mike and I are not available to meet to discuss the assessment outside of scheduled times – during these sessions I have actively encouraged students to come and ask me questions. Please consult the materials available on Moodle and the lecture/seminar notes that you have made to guide you.

QUESTION: I realise that the references for the study we are annotating must go above our annotations, however I am unsure with where to put the reference list for the in text citations. Do I need this reference list underneath each annotation or at the end of the whole document as usual?

ANSWER: If you are referring to another study as an in-text citation in your annotation, then I would anticipate the source also appearing as an entry in your Annotated Bibliography. There is no need to include an additional reference list after each annotation or at the end of the document.

QUESTION: (1) If we need to give pros and criticisms of the study, do we not need to reference as to why these are good or bad? (2) Is cross referencing between annotations considered beneficial to achieve a higher grade?

RESPONSE: (1) If your critique is very specific and relating to a particular methodological paper that you have read, then it is okay to include an in-text citation for that source –there is no need to include the reference to that citation below the annotation. If your critique is more general, then a supporting citation is not required. In either case, be sure to justify your critique; for example, why a small sample size may be a problem. (2) Cross-referencing between annotations would be considered beneficial because it will demonstrate how you would envisage bringing the sources together to form a coherent synthesis, but only do this where it makes sense to do so.

Who can help me to have my work checked to make sure that it is up to standard?

QUESTION: When comparing and contrasting the other papers in our paragraphs do we have to put brackets around the citation? From example would I write, “similarly, to (De Mello, et al, 2013) study”? Also how do you present the citation in text, are all names included, where is punctuation placed?

RESPONSE: If you are including an in-text citation, this needs to be done according to APA 6th guidelines. Take a look at the Citation Guidelines via the Assessment Lecture, which also includes information on in-text citations.

QUESTION: (1) When referencing other studies that I have included in the annotated bibliography, do I need to write the full in-text citation first and then et al if mentioned again in separate paragraphs or do I need to reintroduce the full intext citation if I mention the same article again in multiple paragraph? (2) Please can you explain what is meant by case-level depression, is this the same as clinical depression?

RESPONSE: (1) Consider each annotation as a separate piece of writing, so the in-text citation should be re-introduced in full if you include it in multiple paragraphs. (2) I am not familiar with this label and may be a study-specific description – take a look at the Introduction and Methods section of the study to see how/why they use this label.

QUESTION: Most of the journal articles have references from other sources in their description, what do I do with them?

RESPONSE: Consider why you are including references to other sources in your annotations and then refer to my answers to the questions above.

QUESTION: When annotating a review paper, you said you have to annotate the review itself and not the papers it talks about. How would I go about referencing articles that the review mentions?

RESPONSE: If you would like to discuss specific papers mentioned in the review article, then you should read the original study and include this as a separate source.

QUESTIONS: While sorting out my references i realise i used meta articles and just referenced them as journals. Are we allowed to use them and if so do we just explain how they conducted them as the method?

RESPONSE: Yes, meta-analytic review articles are appropriate for your assessment. Your critique should focus on the methods of the review itself, rather than the methods of the studies included in the review.

QUESTION: (1) Can I use books as references or are only journal articles allowed? (2) Are 8-9 reviews enough for this assignment?

Are tutors available to meet us outside of scheduled times?

RESPONSE: (1) Yes, books and book chapters can be used as sources as long as you can justify why they are relevant. Of course, it is much more difficult to critique a book/book chapter. (2) Given that the total word count for the assignment is 2000 and that each annotation should be between 100 and 200 words, eight to nine annotations will likely be enough. Please remember to include a word count at the end of your document.

QUESTION: Do we have to alphabetically arrange authors names in specific citations e.g. if the authors was Biggs, Arnold in the same citation would i have to rearrange this to make Arnold first or do we just use alphabetical order references with as a whole?

RESPONSE: The order that authors are listed on a paper indicates the level of involvement that they had with the study and should not be altered. In your example, Biggs should remain as the first author. Your reference list should ordered alphabetically based on the surname of the first author – please see the Assessment Lecture slides for additional guidance.

QUESTION: (1) Regarding the annotated bibliography do we need to order the annotations alphabetically? (2) Also if I mention a specific scale or measurement used in the study eg Beck Depression Inventory does this need a specific reference?

RESPONSE: (1) Yes, sources should be ordered alphabetically as in a normal reference list. Please the Assessment Lecture slides for more details. (2) No, it is fine to simply state the name of the scale used. Please see my other responses in terms of the level of detail you need to provide about the measure used within a study.

QUESTION: Is the doi code essential for every reference?

RESPONSE: It is important to provide accurate references for each of your sources. The vast majority of journal articles (and electronic book chapters) now have DOI numbers assigned to them and this should be included in your reference. Please see the Citation Guidelines via the Assessment Lecture for cases where a DOI is not available.

QUESTION: Is there a certain way I need to structure the introduction?

RESPONSE: This coursework does not require an Introduction. Please see the template on the coursework documentation available on Moodle.

QUESTION: (1) Do we need a conclusion about what the critical analysis has shown us about the relationship? (2) Can the essay include the effectiveness of exercise/PA as a treatment and it acting as a protective mechanism against the onset of depression?

Where should I put the reference list for in-text citations?

RESPONSE: (1) No, you do not need to include a conclusion. You only need to provide a critique of each of the individual sources. (2) Yes, it would be appropriate to consider sources that discuss the role of exercise/PA in the treatment and prevention of depression.

QUESTION: I was just wondering if it matters if the article takes about exercise rather than physical activity? I was thinking they go hand in hand anyway but it has only just crossed my mind that this may be an issue after completing the coursework. Will this be an issue?

RESPONSE: I am happy for you to consider both exercise and physical activity in your sources. However, please ensure that your annotations reflect the language used in the source. So if your source discusses exercise, then your annotation should also discuss exercise.

QUESTION:  (1) I was wondering if It is okay to discuss exercise training in the annotated bibliographies? (2) Also what is the minimum word count acceptable?

RESPONSE: (1) Yes, if the source discusses exercise training in relation to depression and you can link the source back to the question, this would be considered appropriate. (2) There is no official minimum word count, but any submissions that are substantially under length will be penalised. Try to use as much of the word count as possible

QUESTION: When stating the methods is it ok to say they used a questionnaire to measure depression, or am i required to state whether they used a likert scale and what cut off points were used, and finally if covariates were considered? I have included some of these when talking about the strengths and weaknesses for some of the studies, but not all is this ok?

RESPONSE: You need to provide the details that are appropriate for your critique. Rather than saying the study used a questionnaire, you should include the exact name of the measure. If they used the same questionnaire but a different cut-off to other studies you’ve included, then this would be worth discussing. The same is true of covariates, you need to make a judgment about whether it was good to include these or not. If you have more critiques than you can include in your word count, then select the critiques that are most relevant to that particular source and demonstrate the breadth of your ability to critique papers.

QUESTION: My only concern is whether we have to hit exactly 2000 words? And where would you like us to put the word count?

Do I need to reference when giving pros and criticisms of the study?

RESPONSE: You do not have to hit 2000 words exactly, but you should be close to it. DO NOT go over the word limit. Please include a statement about the word count below your last annotation.

QUESTION: (1) I am struggling to see how i am going to be able to fit in the main ideas, methods, findings, strengths and weaknesses while also explaining why it relates to my question all within 200 words. I am finding it difficult to ensure that i can keep each paragraph full of the needed information while also keeping it short enough to fit into the guidelines. (2) I was wondering is there much leeway on the 100-200 word limit? and also would i lose marks if i was over?

RESPONSE: (1) This is a challenging assessment which is why we provided seminar sessions to help students develop the skills needed to write succinctly. Refer to your notes from these sessions and the seminar instructions on Moodle to guide you. (2) Some leeway is available, but if you are writing substantially more than 200 words for each source then it is likely that you have missed the purpose of the assignment.

QUESTION: (1) I am having problems with similarity rate, as most of the reference and headings were counted into similarity rate. I have currently got 29% for my work, so do I focus on fixing on other parts of the essay to cut down the similarity rate till its under 20 or there is another way you can suggest for me? (2) The second question is format issue, since drop-in session you have told us the reference part of it has to be adjusted the same as the one in the sample essay. I have checked you have the same setting for the content part of the essay has the same format setting as well. So does the content follow the same rule? (3) The last question is the submission title of we use our up number instead of the topic of the annotated bibliography?

RESPONSE: (1) The similarity scores are likely to be high for all students as many of you will draw on the same sources for your assignment. When you receive the similarity report, look at where the similarity is occurring. If there are full sentences or chunks of texts that are similar to another source, then see what that source is and, if it is the original article, have another go at paraphrasing. (2) I am a unclear what you are asking here. The annotation for each source should be block indented, as shown in the examples. (3) It is fine to use your UP number as the Submission Title when you upload your coursework.

QUESTION: For the assignment I am using a bidirectional relationship study, however I am struggling to find a definition online about what one is exactly. I understand the gist of the type of study, however I would like to find something online to clarify some doubts that I have. Perhaps you can guide me into the direction?

RESPONSE: A bidirectional relationship is one that suggests the relationship goes both ways. For example, screen time predicts physical activity and physical activity predicts screen time.

QUESTION: (1) What is the difference between clinical and major depression?

(2) Also, where would you recommend looking for Guidelines for prescription for depression as I am struggling to find them and have only found brief descriptions for this.