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Annotated Bibliography

How to write an annotated bibliography

 

 

For an annotated bibliography, you will firstly be interested in academic literature, which consists of textbooks, journal articles, reports and scholarly books. As these are scholarly works, they will have been peer-reviewed and scrutinized by experts in the field. 

 

There may also be credible non-academic sources that are more current than academic ones and can give a broader perspective to your research.

For example:

  • Reports from Irish government departments, Health Service Executive reports, reports from international agencies such as the United Nations, the World Health Organization etc.
  • Longer articles and reports from major newspapers, broadcast media and magazines that are well regarded in academic circles (e.g. The Guardian, The Economist, Financial Times)
  • Non-academic books written by authors with expertise and credentials, who support their ideas with well-sourced information.

 

As you are collecting sources of useful information to your project, jot down the references to them as you go, or add them to an automated Reference Manager, such as EndNote, Zotero or Mendeley. This will save time later. Find out more about EndNote with our ATU Library Guide to EndNote Online or Zotero in our ATU Library Guide to Zotero.  

How to Search for Books, eBooks, Journal Articles and more in ATU Library

Use the library discovery service to start your search.

For books, you’ll see its location and class number; this will help you find it on the library shelves.

For ebooks and journal articles, simply click on the link to read it online or download.

 
Search Tips
  • Know what you're looking for? Use the author's surname and the book or article title. For example, Cottrell study skills
  • Browsing a topic? Use a few keywords. It's a good idea to be as specific as possible. For example, history Ireland famine
  • Use Refine Results to filter to books, ebooks or journal articles.  

ATU Library provides access to a huge range of e-Resources (electronic resources) to support you in your studies - including subject databases, abstract and indexing databases, e-journals and e-books. Which resource you use depends on what you’re looking for. It’s a good idea to start with Search + Find because it indexes a large number of our e-Resources along with our physical collections. To narrow down your search, use the tools on the left-hand side of your results screen.

Example

Database & eResources A-Z

 

Explore our complete A-Z list of databases and eResources, where you can find descriptions of each database and filter them by keyword, subject, type, and more.

Find out more tips on searching with our ATU Library Guide to Searching. 

Some of the more popular databases are:

Many students favour Google Scholar as a starting point in research. However, results can be vast and unfocused on your topic. Nevertheless, it can be useful in conjunction with the academic databases from our library. Find out more with our ATU Library Guide to Google Scholar. 

 

Google Scholar also has features called “Cited by” and “Related articles” which shows you other sources relevant to the topic. This can lead you to many more related articles.

 

Example:

 


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