Writing
1. Tracking Bibliographic Information
As you gather pertinent research sources at the library and on the Internet, you will need to keep track of each source's bibliographic information (title, author, place of publication, date of publication, date of access, URL, etc.) to cite the source in your writing later and to find the original source again, if you need it.
There are a variety of ways to manage bibliographic information. When you find bibliographic information with a library catalog or online index, you can save the search results on a disk for future reference. You can also photocopy sources and record bibliographic data directly on the copies before leaving the library. Your Web browser can bookmark pages, and if you prefer to read hardcopy, it can automatically print the URL and date of access in the header.
Because tracking sources can be so easy, it is also easy to neglect. In order to avoid a crisis when you're writing your final project (perhaps because a database is down or you can't locate animportant Internet source), you need to use a system to keep track of bibliographic information for sources you find in your research.
2. The Annotated Working Bibliography
One way to organize bibliographic information with a computer is to keep an annotated working bibliography--a running alphabetical list of bibliographic records and annotations of sources.
As you search for information at the library, save the search information to disk. Most CD-ROM databases at libraries now allow users to "export" or "save" their searches in text format to a floppy disk. If you access library databases over the Internet from a home computer, cut and paste information from a communications program window into an open word processor file or use your Web browser to save pages as text files. As a last resort, print the records and transcribe them to a word processor file by hand. Keep all of the records you save to disk in a single folder, then back up the information regularly.
At the library, if you photocopy an article or book chapter, make sure the photocopy has the essential bibliographic information printed on it. Circle any bibliographic information already printed on the page, and record any missing information. Before moving on, make sure you have all of the information you need to create a citation for the source in the style (MLA, APA, CMS, etc.) required in your research assignment. Use your handbook's model citation as a guide.
Creating an Annotated Working Bibliography
You can keep an annotated working bibliography in a single word processor file. Always skip a whole line between each entry. Every time you read a new batch of research sources, open the working annotated bibliography file and insert new bibliographic entries for the sources you have collected. Check each entry against the sample in your handbook to make sure it is formatted correctly. Keep the list in alphabetical order by author, just as you would were with bibliography cards. To insert a new record, just position the insertion point between lines and hit return a few times to create some space. Or, if you're confident with your computer, you can add new references to the end of the file and use your word processor's sort command to place them in the proper order.
You can even cut and paste the information from the original search file you saved on disk, making sure you rearrange it to fit your citation style. Add comments under each new citation you add to the working bibliography. You might describe the ways you plan to use the source or "position" the source within your project, as described in The Scott, Foresman Handbook for Writers, section 36b-1.
As you compile a final "Works Cited" or "References" page in a draft of your paper, you can open the working annotated bibliography file and simply copy and paste the bibliographic information directly into the final list. This step can save an enormous amount of time which you can devote to the more important task of drafting the paper. You will also find the working annotated bibliography useful if you work on a related project in the future.
3. A Sample Entry from an Annotated Working Bibliography
The annotated working bibliography doesn't just save you time. As new sources enter your collection and shed light on sources you have already read, you can return to the old entries in the bibliography and revise them to reflect your new understanding of the works.
Here is a sample entry for a source added early in a project:
Sagoff, Mark. "Do We Consume Too Much?" The Atlantic Monthly June 1997: 80+. (Location: Micro AP2 .A8)
Sagoff challenges the idea that we are consuming too many natural resources. He challenges the work of Paul and Anne Ehrlich (-- find this--) and other environmentalists who believe that the earth cannot sustain continued population growth and resource consumption. Sagoff shows that there is a greater abundance of natural resources now than environmentalists predicted in the 1960's. The article points out that environmental scientists failed to consider developments in technology in their projections about resource consumption and population growth. The article does not endorse letting consumption grow indefinitely. After dispelling a number of "misconceptions" about the impact of consumption, Sagoff argues that we should protect nature for "aesthetic and moral" reasons.
Here is the same entry rewritten later to reflect what the researcher has learned from new sources added to the collection. References to other sources in the larger annotated bibliography are added in parentheses:
Sagoff, Mark. "Do We Consume Too Much?" The Atlantic Monthly June 1997: 80+. (Location: Micro AP2 .A8)
Sagoff challenges the idea that we are consuming too many natural resources. In the first part of the article, he sounds a lot like Julian Simon (see Myers and Simon 1994; discussed in Regis 1997); he challenges the work of Paul and Anne Ehrlich (see Ehrlich 1968) and other environmentalists who believe that the earth cannot sustain continued population growth and resource consumption. Sagoff shows that there is a greater abundance of natural resources now than enironmentalists predicted in the 1960's. The article points out that environmental scientists failed to consider developments in technology in their projections about resource consumption and population growth. The article does not endorse letting consumption grow indefinitely. After dispelling a number of "misconceptions" about the impact of consumption, Sagoff argues that we should protect nature for "aesthetic and moral" reasons.
Paul Ehrlich published an acerbic response to this article (see Ehrlich 1997). Though Ehrlich's anger shows, he does point to some weak points in Sagoff's arguments. He responds that while technology seems to solve short term problems, it can often have unintended consequences in the long run.
Though keeping an annotated working bibliography is certainly more time-consuming than keeping bibliography cards, it can save you time in the long run. Each annotation is like a mini-draft that you can draw on when you are planning the final form of your project. If you keep up with the working bibliography and the working outline, you will find that your drafting work will contain fewer unexpected difficulties. Eleventh hour insights that change plans are par for the course, but eleventh hour difficulties are preventable.