DEVS 220: Introduction to Indigenous Studies

An annotated bibliography is a list of citations to books, articles, and documents. Each citation is followed by a brief summary of the content of the resource and an explanation of why it is included. The purpose of the annotations that you write for this course is to describe the resource and why it is relevant to your particular focus of inquiry. 

ANNOTATIONS VS. ABSTRACTS

Abstracts are the purely descriptive summaries often found at the beginning of scholarly journal articles or in journal indexes. The annotations that you write for this course should describe the resource and its content and note how they are relevant to your inquiry.

THE PROCESS

Creating an annotated bibliography calls for the application of a variety of intellectual skills: concise exposition, succinct analysis, and informed library research.

First, locate and record citations to books, periodicals, and documents that may contain useful information and ideas on your topic. Briefly examine and review the actual items. Then choose those works that provide a variety of perspectives on your topic.

Cite the book, article, or document using the American Sociological Association, ASA Style.

Write a concise annotation that summarizes the central theme and scope of the book, book chapter or article. Comment on how the resource is relevant to your inquiry.  

Examples:

Davis, Jennifer. 2014. "Towards a Further Understanding of What Indigenous People Have Always Known: Storytelling as the Basis of Good Pedagogy." First Nations Perspectives 6(1):83-96.

Jennifer Davis is a faculty member at the University College of the North, an educational institution devoted to community and northern development and that reflects the Indigenous reality and cultural diversity of northern Manitoba.  Her work in this article discusses the renewed and growing interest in traditional knowledge and wisdom with an emphasis on what she terms the ancient practice of storytelling and how non-indigenous educators can use the practice in education in ways that have always been practiced by indigenous educators. The article discusses works that are both in support of stories and narratives as a pedagogy and those that have a dissenting opinion.  This work is relevant as my focus of inquiry in this course will explore how storytelling can be effectively integrated as a pedagogy in curriculum as a step towards decolonizing academia.

Content created by and adapted from Olin Library Reference, Research & Learning Services
Cornell University Library, Ithaca, NY, USA.   Used by permission.