Annotated Bibliography (3 @ 25 pts each) Dr. Harden – BIOL4363 – Fall 2020
Due Dates: see Course Outline hand out and D2L
What is the goal of this assignment: The purpose the annotated bibliography is to assist you to become familiar
with the primary sources of literature in the field of ecology, and to develop a skill for summarizing information.
Furthermore, it is to explore the scientific research behind your EcoPhotos! You will find 3 peer-reviewed research
articles that relate to each of your 3 EcoPhotos, respectively.
What is a peer-reviewed article? A peer-reviewed article is an article that has been vetted by other scientists. An
article in this format is considered to a higher standard than a “popular press” article (e.g. National Geographic,
Scientific American) or other magazines or newspapers. You must locate and be certain your articles are peerreviewed. Generally, a researcher will conduct research involving a particular question, and the results will be
written in a particular format that can be vetted, which outlines the question(s), methods used to answer the
question(s), results, and the discussion (or how the answer compares to other similar questions, or doesn’t). If
the science is deemed unsuitable for publication by peers, it is generally not accepted by that particular journal.
Here are some good examples of ecology related journals that publish peer-reviewed articles:
American Naturalist, Behavioral Ecology, Ecology, Evolution, Evolutionary Ecology
Research, Functional Ecology, Journal of Animal Ecology, Journal of Applied Ecology,
Journal of Chemical Ecology, Journal of Ecology, Journal of Human Ecology, Journal of
Tropical Ecology, Nature, Oecologia, Oikos, Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences, Science.
How and where to find a relevant article? This can be an article that your EcoPhoto caption is based on, an article
that provides more detail to a concept/principle from your photo caption, or even an article that challenges the
Ecophoto concept/principle. It is your job to make the connection between your EcoPhoto caption and the
research article. This article should also be connected to material you learned from a SimUText module or a
lecture. It could be connected to the SimUText module that the EcoPhoto is connected to, but it could also be
connected to another module. You can always ask the instructor if you are headed in the right direction.
Avoid choosing a review article – instead, look for articles that describe original research (that have a methods
and results section). This exercise will also help you hone your literature searching and reading comprehension
skills, which are useful for any profession (especially medicine, ecology, or environmental science). You must
demonstrate that you have read the article and that you can write clearly about the main points and findings. No
articles or bibliographies can be used from previous or current courses other than this course. I am more than
happy to help if you need assistance.
Peer-reviewed articles can be found using GoogleScholar, or use one of the research databases through BenU’s
Library such as Web of Science. Simply type in your interest, keyword or topic and a number of articles should be
available. Science is built upon the foundation of others, so it is important to not only understand a broad range
of work, but be able to find the importance and critique the work.
What are the details of this assignment? Each annotated bibliography should link to the respective EcoPhoto (e.g.
Annotated Bib 1 connects to EcoPhoto 1 and so on). This assignment will be graded on connection of course
material, EcoPhoto, and Annotated Bibliography, as well as your attention to detail, content, and writing. Make
1
Annotated Bibliography (3 @ 25 pts each) Dr. Harden – BIOL4363 – Fall 2020
sure you follow the directions and format properly. There is a student example posted on D2L, which gives you
a template for the assignment. Note: this student example is from Fall 2019 and is not connected to the EcoPhoto
assignment, since this is new for Fall 2020.
For each article you will provide the following single spaced, in size 12 font:
1. A PDF of the article (this means once you find an article, “save as” a PDF in your Ecology folder). Then
submit it to D2L dropbox along with your assignment. Please avoid sending me a link, because the
instructor will not be able to open it.
2. The citation of the article (see below for format)
3. A brief summary of the articles question(s)/hypotheses, methods, results, and conclusion/discussion (~20
lines). Avoid directly quoting the article. Instead, use your own words to show comprehension and avoid
plagiarism.
4. A brief summary (~20 lines) of:
a. How the article connects to your EcoPhoto and how it relates to the course material. Be specific about
the connection – what theory/concept does it connect to? How did the paper address it?
b. Explicitly explain how this paper extends your knowledge about this topic in this course
c. The importance of this study and how it could be built upon for the future (i.e. future directions).
Required citation format: For these references, you must use the Council of Science Editors (CSE) Name-Year
citation sub-style. If you are not familiar with this citation system sub-style, you may use the BenU Library research
guide or the University of Wisconsin writing guide. Here is an example:
Author(s). Year. Article title. Abbreviated journal title. Volume(issue):pages.
How is this assignment assessed?
Article Summary (10 points):
0
2
4
Little/no summary. Reader is unclear of what the
ecological question/hypothesis/objective is.
Summary does not sufficiently describe the
questions, methods, results, discussion. Summary
includes personal opinions/reactions. Reader does
not understand the article through the summary.
Article Connection (10 points):
0
2
4
The article connection does not include
any/adequate connection to EcoPhoto or course
material. There is no discussion on personal
knowledge gain or importance of study. There is no
recommendation for a future study.
6
8
10
Good overall summary, clear and concise. Article summary
sufficiently describes the questions, methods, results,
discussion. Teaches the reader some science. Reader
understands the ecological question/hypothesis/objective
clearly from summary. Reader understands the premise of
the peer-reviewed article.
6
8
10
The article connection sufficiently connects to ecology
course material and the EcoPhoto. There is discussion of
personal knowledge gain from the article and of the
importance of the study. The connection includes future
directions for the study.
2
Annotated Bibliography (3 @ 25 pts each) Dr. Harden – BIOL4363 – Fall 2020
Mechanics, Formatting, Effort (5 points)
0
1
2
Article is not submitted in D2L. Article is not peerreviewed. Evidence of plagiarism. Assignment is of
insufficient length and/or is incorrectly formatted.
Incorrect citation format.
3
4
5
Article is submitted as an attachment in D2L. Article is peerreviewed. Assignment is unique to author (no plagiarism).
Assignment is the appropriate length and is formatted
correctly. Citation format is correct.
3
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