Reflection on Annotated bibliography.

This week has been very busy and important in my journey as a doctoral student. I got started on reading and summarizing articles as I prepare to venture into my literature review.

The most helpful assignment for this section was the meet the librarian assignment. Dr. Dennis was very helpful. 

I now have have a better understanding of my topic after reading through  more than 20 articles. My goal of learning how to locate quality articles and journals was met. First, as I read  and summarize articles and journals, I getting a better understanding of my topic. Second, I am also developing and shaping  new ideas that I will integrate in my topic.

I had done an annotated bibliography in IDT 8100 where I read and summarized 20 articles. I used refworks then. Refworks is a good resource because of the ability to export a source from a database directly.  For this assignment, I just created a google doc that follows the template required by Dr. Weaver. Each resource takes up a whole page. At this point I getting  organized is key and will be very beneficial later on in my research.

Before this assignment, I created a graphic organizer to have a better understanding of the literature review process as a whole. As I started this assignment, I understood the importance of locating quality articles and journals because my knowledge of the topic will result in high quality work as I progress through the other stages of the literature review and research later on.

So far I have done a good job because I have planned my time well. Generally, to meet the deadline of 20 articles in 4 days, I had to stay focused and give myself enough time to do a good reading and summary.  I have maintained a pace of about 4-5 articles a day, which has not been so overwhelming.

I need to have 60 resourses by the end of next week. I will use the same time management and organization that I used this week. My advice to any peers who are in a similar situation is, do not try  to read the articles when you have other thing going on or you are tired. Get a 2 time during the day or night and knock off the 4-5. Take a break when you a tired, come back when refreshed, and continue from where you left.

Personal insights

As I go through the process of annotating the resources, I am also exposed to different types of studies, namely qualitative, quantitative, empirical. I am beginning to have ideas as to what type of research I will do and as to what factors I need to consider when choosing type of research  that will be ideal for my topic. For example, the question of how and where I will collect data for my research keep coming up. I am hoping this process will give me the knowledge to address this question. 

Thanks to Peter Pappas

Peter Pappas blog