Associate Program Material
Appendix F

Writing an Annotated Bibliography and Quoting, Summarizing, and Paraphrasing a Source

An annotated bibliography is a tool writers use to collect information about their source materials. The information includes a correctly-formatted reference citation and two or three paragraphs stating why the source is credible and how it will be used in the writer’s current work. Consider the following example:

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|Holme, A., MacArthur, C., & Lancashire, R. (2010). The effects of breastfeeding on cognitive and neurological development of children |
|at 9 years. Child: Care, Health, and Development, 36(4), 583-590. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2214.2009.01068.x |
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|Holme, MacArthur, and Lancashire (2010) used data from a longitudinal study to compare breastfeeding rates of smokers with respect to |
|cognitive development and intelligence quotient measurements. Holme et al. hypothesized that longer breastfeeding duration, such as |
|exclusively for 6 months and with solids until 12 months, would result in higher levels of cognitive and neurological development as |
|measured by psychologists. What they found, however, was that breastfeeding alone was not positively correlated to increased |
|intelligence or development; rather, socioeconomic characteristics were likely the link to the increased cognitive scores. |
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|Holme et al. (2010) provide a wide range of breastfeeding data for the cohort they examined. The data appear to be credible, and the |
|longitudinal follow-up rate of 66% supports the validity of the findings. Unfortunately, the location of this cohort is urban, which |
|means that the data may not immediately be applicable in a rural or less-developed locale. The statistics included in Holme et al. |
|will prove to be particularly useful when reviewing why women are more or less likely to choose breastfeeding. This type of |
|information is important to share