For this assignment, you are being asked to prepare an annotated bibliography of your sources.
An annotated bibliography is both a properly formatted citation (in this case, using APA style), plus a paragraph discussing the source. Your discussion should briefly summarize the source, and also include some evaluative assessment of it. You may wish to tell your readers about the usefulness of a source for your own topic, how it compares to other sources on the topic, and how you will incorporate the source into your own work.
Be critical. What makes this a good resource, and why should it be shared?
The references in an annotated bibliography will be arranged just as you would a typical reference list, but with the addition of your summarizing paragraph directly below each. While your reference is indented on the second line ("hanging indent"), your paragraph will be indented on the first line. See the examples from the guides below. Your annotations must be at least 150 words, and be written in paragraph format, not a bulletted list.
Before you start your research, put some thought into how you are going to collect all those resources, and what the easiest mechanism will be for recording your comments.
Keeping the metadata about the resource (author, title, URL, etc) together with search terms and tools you used, as well as the notes you might want to make for each, will save you lots of time later.
You may have developed your own system that works for you, but below are two suggestions for tools to help you organize your results. The ultimate goal of your assignment is to contribute to a list of resources that will be shared, so having correct publication information will be critical for others to locate your suggestions.
Zotero is a free browser tool that keeps track of your articles and webpages, and creates citations in several formats. Sign up for a free account, and your personal library will be accessible from any computer with an internet connection.
Use Google Sheets to collect publication details, including the URL, of each item you find useful. Use a column to add your notes with your ideas about why you are selecting the item. It will be easily available to you anywhere you have access to Google Drive, and easily shareable with others.
Here's an example of what that might look like. Feel free to copy and use this one: https://tinyurl.com/y2abhvl9
Other tools to be aware of:
USe the Advanced Search form in Summon to limit to geographic location. This will give you results focussed on the area you specify. You can also use the drop-down menus to restrict your terms to titles, abstracts, and more. USe the content filters to find newspaper and magazine content.
Try searching the key library databases below for resources on topics relating to urban green spaces and SDG 15: Life on Land.
Your sources can come from peer-reviewed articles, books, policy, bylaws and various levels of government.
Consider some of the following search terms and related terms:
SDG2 Zero Hunger:
Urban biodiversity:
SDG11 Cities and Communities:
Consider using Advanced Google Search.
Try Google Scholar for accessing peer-reviewed articles and publications on freely available sites and social media sites such as ResearchGate.
When searching from off-campus, go to Settings > Library Links and add Kwantlen Polytechnic University Library to the search box. This will enable Google Scholar to add links to articles already in the Library's subscription.
Once you have found an article that is related to your topic, it's time to start paying attention to the sources the author has used in their own research.
Most of the library databases provide links to the cited articles on a reference list or bibliography. These links will either go directly to the article, link out to Google Scholar, or provide another means of accessing the article.
But what happens if you need to track a citation, and you don't have these links?
Click on the question marks in the sample reference list below to learn how to decipher references.