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The annotated bibliography is the starting point for writing a research paper or other assignment. Though choosing a good topic is not always easy, you should do your best to make it worth your time. The annotated bibliography should demonstrate your research skills and acquisitive mind. This type of assignment has several writing styles as well as a set of specific rules. To get a good grade you need to make it precise and laconic. Apart from that, writing an annotated bibliography requires analysis, research skills, and proper presenting of the results.
Overall, writing an annotated bibliography trains all the basic skills that are necessary for producing further research. It is not that difficult to write a paper of this type, while it gives you a chance to prepare yourself for a more solid piece of work. However, choosing the right topic might be a challenging task. There are a great many annotated bibliography topics for nursing. But you need this one that is not too trivial and opens a prospect for further investigations.
How to choose the right annotated bibliography topic and what matters while writing this type of assignment? Let’s sort it out!
Annotated Bibliographies and Reference Lists
The first thing to take into account while writing an annotated bibliography is that it differs from a reference list. The reference list implies a detailed list of papers you refer to in your assignment. On the other hand, the annotated bibliography requires to overview of not only the sources you have cited in your work but also all other materials you have read to produce your assignment.
You will hardly cite all sources you have read while preparing your paper. But you definitely gained some important information related to the topic from them. Thus, it is worth mentioning this fact. The annotated bibliography usually includes a brief description of the work. You can use articles, books, manuals, research papers. And all of them should be mentioned and described. It will help your professor to evaluate the work you have done to produce your assignment.
Both a reference list and annotated bibliography can have different citation styles – APA, MLA, AMA, etc. The APA citation style is commonly used in nursing assignments. Reference lists and annotated bibliographies are organized alphabetically and set at the end of a paper. Quite often students are assigned to write an annotated bibliography before producing a research paper. It helps teachers to evaluate the thread of your thoughts and give you some additional recommendations on sources for your paper.
Here you will find some samples and examples – What is an Annotated Bibliography?
What Is an Annotated Bibliography APA Nursing?
If you need to write an annotated bibliography, you should sort out what to include in it. The list of sources for this assignment does not come down to articles, books, research papers, and other types of written works. Films, websites, recordings can also be included. However, students usually prefer to focus on authoritative papers. All of the sources you use should contribute to your understanding of the theme. Besides, you need to add a full citation and write an annotation for each of them. The length of annotation varies from several sentences to 2-3 paragraphs. The formatting of the citation should correspond to one particular style – APA, MLA, CBE, etc.
We will focus on the APA style. APA (American Psychological Association) is a citation style that is commonly used for sources referring to Social Science. If you write an annotation in this style, you should generalize some core ideas and provide a brief interpretation of a source. It usually includes two paragraphs. In the first one, you need to highlight the key aspects of the work. In the second one, you focus on its contribution to the topic, methods, etc. The annotation is different from an abstract. It is brief, informative, and provides an evaluation of the content. As a rule, each annotation includes 150-200 words.
There are some recommendations for writing an annotation:
- Provide a concise description of the content;
- Evaluate the contribution to the topic;
- Highlight the methodology used in the work;
- Mention some insights or themes covered;
- Underline some strengths or weaknesses;
- Discuss the author’s expertise;
- Analyze the work for bias, accuracy, and reliability.
Overall, annotated bibliographies are helpful for further research as you know what to refer to while writing your paper. It is recommended to choose a topic you really want to look into as it will make the writing process easier. In this video made by Carnegie Vincent Library, you will find some additional guidelines.
The Best Annotated Bibliography Topics for Nursing
The nursing field provides significant prospects for research. Thus, there are a lot of good topics for the annotated bibliography. Being a student you have to learn a great many things to upgrade your expertise and skills. And some of them you probably like more than others. The perfect topic for an annotated bibliography corresponds to your academic interests and contributes to your expertise. However, if you do not have good ideas, pay attention to this list:
1. The causes and threats of antibiotic resistance.
2. The psychological and ethical aspects of child care.
3. Parkinson’s disease: prevention and treatment.
4. The importance of psychological aspects in nursing.
5. The most effective practices in geriatrics models of care.
6. The role of nurses in managing Coronavirus.
7. The impact of a heart attack on mental health.
8. The causes and consequences of obesity for older children.
9. The impact of stress and anxiety on the immune system.
10. Practices in preventing early dementia.
In Wrapping up
If you lack topic ideas for an annotated bibliography, do not lose courage. The perfect idea can occur to you every moment. The annotated bibliography is the first stage of producing a research paper. Thus, think about things you like most in nursing. Maybe, there is something you would like to investigate or make a contribution to. Anyway, you can also check this article to gain fresh ideas for your further research – 101 Most Popular Nursing Research Topics for Nursing Students.
Getting started with an annotated bibliography you need to bear in mind several things. First of all, you should not copy or rewrite an abstract as it is a description of the content. Still, the annotation is more than it. Besides, 2-4 sentences are enough to describe the core insights of the work. Write down 2-4 sentences in sum to evaluate the quality of the source and reflect on its relevance. In the end, if you work on your annotated bibliography well, it will make writing a research paper easier.
