Annotated Bibliography & How To

Annotated Bibliographies are created for the purpose of summarizing and evaluating sources used in research.  There are many different ways to do annotations but it usually involves a combination or assortment of summarizing, assessing, and reflecting.  While summarizing the main arguments, topics included in the source, and the point of the source at all should be included.  When assessing, evaluating the source on validity, legitimacy, modernity, and etcetera should be done.  Also, checking from what angle the source is written is important.  Biased sources can leave holes in your research.  After doing the steps above, reflecting can lead to a decision on how a source can be used in a paper or research project.  Also, asking yourself if the article has changed your topic or your ideas on a topic can help you decided if the article is useful at all (Bisignani, & Brizee, 2010).

Annotated Bibliographies are essential for gathering information for your topic.  Also, they force the writer to scrutinize their sources further and to really decide whether or not the information will be used by them in their research.  Annotated Bibliographies help a writer form a thesis statement or strengthen a thesis statement already formed.  They also are helpful in seeing what has already been done on the topic at hand (Bisignani, & Brizee, 2010).

To write annotations, write them in paragraph form.  How long an annotation is depends on its purpose in the project.  Usually, they are written in sentence form as opposed to fragments or bullets (Bisignani, & Brizee, 2010).

Reference List

Bisignani, D., & Brizee, A. (2010, January 08). Annotated bibliographies. Retrieved from http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/614/01/

Annotated Bibliographies are basic summaries of what has already been done in the topic of your research.  From previous blogs, I found that introductions and literature reviews include summaries of what has already been done and why your topic is unique.  Annotated Bibliographies are summaries of sources and research that have already been done, so they are essential in writing lit. reviews and introductions to our paper. 

One can distinquish whether or not a source is valid, useful, etc. by using the tools we researched in blog # 7.  Evaluating your sources can test many different aspects of usefulness to your topic and can cut out a lot of time spent otherwise trying to implement information that doesn’t really work.

Annotated Bibliography

1. Mah, K., & Binik, Y. (2005). Are orgasms in the mind or the body? Psychosocial versus physiological correlates of orgasmic pleasure and satisfaction. Journal Of Sex & Marital Therapy, 31(3), 187-200. Retrieved from MEDLINE database.

                          Mah and Binik argue that an orgasm is experienced more as a phychological and psychosocial event than a physical one.  They related womans’ satisfaction with orgasms to their partners’ happiness, and studied both male and female orgasms.  Their research included two groups;  one group discussed solitary masterbation and the other group discussed sex with partners.  This relates well to my study because I am interested in all of the components of climax, and this will help me to better understand my own results.

2. Jones, C. (2007). Orgasm as a post-copulatory display. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 36(5), 633-636. Retrieved from Biological Abstracts database.

                          In this article, Jones discusses the biological, evolutionary, and physiological aspects of the female orgasm.  She infers that orgasms could be a product of sexual selection and evolution.  She also gives details relating to physiology by providing examples of responses from different mammals, including humans.  I would like to include this article in my literature review, because it gives great background information on the history and evolution of orgasms.

 

3.  Mah, K., & Binik, Y. (2002). Do all orgasms feel alike? Evaluating a two-dimensional model of the orgasm experience across gender and sexual context. Journal Of Sex Research, 39(2), 104-113. Retrieved from MEDLINE with Full Text database.

                              Binik and Mah discuss the differences in physical experience of orgasm in men and woman.  They exclude in this however, the psychological aspects.  The article pertains to a  survey of university students, and asks them to relay their experience with adjectives and on a scale.  This will give me an advantage to see what has already been done for researching climax on a university campus.  It will also help me develop a different angle.

4. Colson, M., Lemaire, A., Pinton, P., Hamidi, K., & Klein, P. (2006). Sexual behaviors and mental perception, satisfaction and expectations of sex life in men and women in France. The Journal Of Sexual Medicine, 3(1), 121-131. Retrieved from MEDLINE database.

                                   A sex survery was conducted in France, assessing satisfaction with participants sex lives as well as the feelings towards it.  It discussed how sex was important to their lives, and what parts of sex meant most to the general population.  This is important to my research because it allows me to see results of what other population samples found to be important for sexual intercourse.

5.  Haning, R., O’Keefe, S., Beard, K., Randall, E., Kommor, M., & Stroebel, S. (2008). Empathic sexual responses in heterosexual women and men. Sexual & Relationship Therapy, 23(4), 325-344. Retrieved from CINAHL with Full Text database.

                     In this article Haning, Beard, Randall, and etcetera discuss the physiological aspects of orgasm in relation to whether a partner experiences satisfaction and sexual responsiveness.  They define this as an empathetic response; and associate it with an arousal if a partner is positively responsive or a decrease in satisfaction if the partner is not as responsive.  This article is essential because it will help me evaluate partner satisfaction in my college relationship participants.

6.  Wight, D., Parkes, A., Strange, V., Allen, E., Bonell, C., & Henderson, M. (2008). The quality of young people’s heterosexual relationships: a longitudinal analysis of characteristics shaping subjective experience. Perspectives on Sexual & Reproductive Health, 40(4), 226-237. Retrieved from CINAHL with Full Text database.

               The cited authors in this journal article researched adolescent relationships and how they perceived their enjoyment of sex.  Because college students are made up of a large teenage and young adult population, this research correlates well with what I plan to assess on IUP’s campus.

7.  McCabe, M. (1999). The interrelationship between intimacy, relationship functioning, and sexuality among men and women in committeed relationships. Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality, 8(1), 31-38. Retrieved from CINAHL with Full Text database.

                    This article dealt specifically with heterosexual relationships.  It assessed how they were satisfied with the strength of the relationship; they also researched how happy they were with the sexual aspect of the relationship.  Because I am dealing with heterosexual couples on campus, this research may provide good background information.

8.  Byers, E. (2001). Evidence for the importance of relationship satisfaction for women’s sexual functioning. Women & Therapy, 24(1/2), 23-26. Retrieved from CINAHL with Full Text database.

                 This research study suggests that many of womans sexual satisfaction stems from interpersonal characteristics of sexual intercourse.  This will further support my assumption that woman need an emotional connection to experience satisfactory climax.

9.  Paul, E., & Hayes, K. (2002). The casualties of ‘casual’ sex: a qualitative exploration of the phenomenology of college students’ hookups. Journal of Social & Personal Relationships, 19(5), 639-661. Retrieved from CINAHL with Full Text database.

                         Paul and Hayes study the phenomenon of the college hook-ups and the characteristics of casual sexual relationships.  Results to the survey given gave typical descriptions of what a college hook-up consisted of, but varied when discussing what happened afterwards.  Males and females gave different accounts as to how they felt/experienced post-hook up events.  This will be important information to use to compare heterosexual relationships that are more serious, to the satisfaction or lack of in a casual sexual experience.

10.  Komisaruk, B., Beyer, C., & Whipple, B. (2008). Orgasm. Psychologist, 21(2), 100-103. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database.

                      This article discusses hormones and neurotransmitters associated with male and female orgasm.  It went more in depth on the psychological, discussing woman and men’s feelings associated with orgasm.  This is excellent information to couple with the biological and physiological aspects of orgasm.