ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Why do an annotated bibliography?
One of the reasons behind citing sources and compiling a general bibliography is so that you can prove you have done some valid research to back up your argument and claims. Readers can refer to a citation in your bibliography and then go look up the material themselves. When inspired by your text or your argument, interested researchers can access your resources. They may wish to double check a claim or interpretation you’ve made, or they may simply wish to continue researching according to their interests. But think about it: even though a bibliography provides a list of research sources of all types that includes publishing information, how much does that really tell a researcher or reader about the sources themselves?
An annotated bibliography provides specific information about each source you have used. As a researcher, you have become an expert on your topic: you have the ability to explain the content of your sources, assess their usefulness, and share this information with others who may be less familiar with them. Think of your paper as part of a conversation with people interested in the same things you are; the annotated bibliography allows you to tell readers what to check out, what might be worth checking out in some situations, and what might not be worth spending the time on. It’s kind of like providing a list of good movies for your classmates to watch and then going over the list with them, telling them why this movie is better than that one or why one student in your class might like a particular movie better than another student would. You want to give your audience enough information to understand basically what the movies are about and to make an informed decision about where to spend their money based on their interests.
What does an annotated bibliography do?
A good annotated bibliography
• encourages you to think critically about the content of the works you are using, their place within a field of study, and their relation to your own research and ideas.
• proves you have read and understand your sources.
• establishes your work as a valid source and you as a competent researcher.
• situates your study and topic in a continuing professional conversation.
• provides a way for others to decide whether a source will be helpful to their research if they read it.
• could help interested researchers determine whether they are interested in a topic by providing background information and an idea of the kind of work going on in a field.
What elements might an annotation include?
1. Bibliography according to the appropriate citation style (MLA, APA, CBE/CSE, etc.).
2. Explanation of main points and/or purpose of the work—basically, its thesis—which shows among other things that you have read and thoroughly understand the source.
3. Verification or critique of the authority or qualifications of the author.
4. Comments on the worth, effectiveness, and usefulness of the work in terms of both the topic being researched and/or your own research project.
5. The point of view or perspective from which the work was written. For instance, you may note whether the author seemed to have particular biases or was trying to reach a particular audience.
6. Relevant links to other work done in the area, like related sources, possibly including a comparison with some of those already on your list. You may want to establish connections to other aspects of the same argument or opposing views.
The first four elements above are usually a necessary part of the annotated bibliography. Points 5 and 6 may involve a little more analysis of the source, but you may include them in other kinds of annotations besides evaluative ones. Depending on the type of annotation you use, which this handout will address in the next section, there may be additional kinds of information that you will need to include.
For more extensive research papers (probably ten pages or more), you often see resource materials grouped into sub-headed sections based on content, but this probably will not be necessary for the kinds of assignments you’ll be working on. For longer papers, ask your professor about her preferences concerning annotated bibliographies.
Did you know that annotations have categories and styles?
Decisions, decisions
As you go through this handout, you’ll see that, before you start, you’ll need to make several decisions about your annotations: citation format, type of annotation, and writing style for the annotation.
First of all, you’ll need to decide which kind of citation format is appropriate to the paper and its sources, for instance, MLA or APA. This may influence the format of the annotations and bibliography. Typically, bibliographies should be double-spaced and use normal margins (you may want to check with your instructor, since he may have a different style he wants you to follow).
MLA (Modern Language Association)
See the UNC Libraries citation tutorial for basic MLA bibliography formatting and rules.
• MLA documentation is generally used for disciplines in the humanities, such as English, languages, film, and cultural studies or other theoretical studies. These annotations are often summary or analytical annotations.
• Title your annotated bibliography “Annotated Bibliography” or “Annotated List of Works Cited.”
• Following MLA format, use a hanging indent for your bibliographic information. This means the first line is not indented and all the other lines are indented four spaces (you may ask your instructor if it’s okay to tab over instead of using four spaces).
• Begin your annotation immediately after the bibliographic information of the source ends; don’t skip a line down unless you have been told to do so by your instructor.
APA (American Psychological Association)
See the UNC Libraries citation tutorial for basic APA bibliography formatting and rules.
• Natural and social sciences, such as psychology, nursing, sociology, and social work, use APA documentation. It is also used in economics, business, and criminology. These annotations are often succinct summaries.
• Annotated bibliographies for APA format do not require a special title. Use the usual “References” designation.
• Like MLA, APA uses a hanging indent: the first line is set flush with the left margin, and all other lines are indented four spaces (you may ask your instructor if it’s okay to tab over instead of using four spaces).
• After the bibliographic citation, drop down to the next line to begin the annotation, but don’t skip an extra line.
• The entire annotation is indented an additional two spaces, so that means each of its lines will be six spaces from the margin (if your instructor has said that it’s okay to tab over instead of using the four spaces rule, indent the annotation two more spaces in from that point).
CBE (Council of Biology Editors)/CSE (Council of Science Editors)
See the UNC Libraries citation tutorial for basic CBE/CSE bibliography formatting and rules.
• CBE/CSE documentation is used by the plant sciences, zoology, microbiology, and many of the medical sciences.
• Annotated bibliographies for CBE/CSE format do not require a special title. Use the usual “References,” “Cited References,” or “Literature Cited,” and set it flush with the left margin.
• Bibliographies for CSE in general are in a slightly smaller font than the rest of the paper.
• When using the name-year system, as in MLA and APA, the first line of each entry is set flush with the left margin, and all subsequent lines, including the annotation, are indented three or four spaces.
• When using the citation-sequence method, each entry begins two spaces after the number, and every line, including the annotation, will be indented to match the beginning of the entry, or may be slightly further indented, as in the case of journals.
• After the bibliographic citation, drop down to the next line to begin the annotation, but don’t skip an extra line. The entire annotation follows the indentation of the bibliographic entry, whether it’s N-Y or C-S format.
• Annotations in CBE/CSE are generally a smaller font size than the rest of the bibliographic information.
After choosing a documentation format, you’ll choose from a variety of annotation categories presented in the following section. Each type of annotation highlights a particular approach to presenting a source to a reader. For instance, an annotation could provide a summary of the source only, or it could also provide some additional evaluation of that material.
In addition to making choices related to the content of the annotation, you’ll also need to choose a style of writing—for instance, telescopic versus paragraph form. Your writing style isn’t dictated by the content of your annotation. Writing style simply refers to the way you’ve chosen to convey written information. A discussion of writing style follows the section on annotation types.
Types of annotations
As you now know, one annotation does not fit all purposes! There are different kinds of annotations, depending on what might be most important for your reader to learn about a source. Your assignments will usually make it clear which citation format you need to use, but they may not always specify which type of annotation to employ. In that case, you’ll either need to pick your instructor’s brain a little to see what she wants or use clue words from the assignment itself to make a decision. For instance, the assignment may tell you that your annotative bibliography should give evidence proving an analytical understanding of the sources you’ve used. The word analytical clues you in to the idea that you must evaluate the sources you’re working with and provide some kind of critique.
Summary annotations
There are two kinds of summarizing annotations, informative and indicative.
Summarizing annotations in general have a couple of defining features:
• They sum up the content of the source, as a book report might.
• They give an overview of the arguments and proofs/evidence addressed in the work and note the resulting conclusion.
• They do not judge the work they are discussing. Leave that to the critical/evaluative annotations.
• When appropriate, they describe the author’s methodology or approach to material. For instance, you might mention if the source is an ethnography or if the author employs a particular kind of theory.
Informative annotation
Informative annotations sometimes read like straight summaries of the source material, but they often spend a little more time summarizing relevant information about the author or the work itself.
Indicative annotation
Indicative annotation is the second type of summary annotation, but it does not attempt to include actual information from the argument itself. Instead, it gives general information about what kinds of questions or issues are addressed by the work. This sometimes includes the use of chapter titles.
Critical/evaluative
Evaluative annotations don’t just summarize. In addition to tackling the points addressed in summary annotations, evaluative annotations:
• evaluate the source or author critically (biases, lack of evidence, objective, etc.).
• show how the work may or may not be useful for a particular field of study or audience.
• explain how researching this material assisted your own project.
Combination
An annotated bibliography may combine elements of all the types. In fact, most of them fall into this category: a little summarizing and describing, a little evaluation.
Writing style
Ok, next! So what does it mean to use different writing styles as opposed to different kinds of content? Content is what belongs in the annotation, and style is the way you write it up. First, choose which content type you need to compose, and then choose the style you’re going to use to write it
Telescopic
This kind of annotated bibliography is a study in succinctness. It uses a minimalist treatment of both information and sentence structure, without sacrificing clarity. Warning: this kind of writing can be harder than you might think.
Paragraph
Don’t skimp on this kind of annotated bibliography. If your instructor has asked for paragraph form, it likely means that you’ll need to include several elements in the annotation, or that she expects a more in-depth description or evaluation, for instance. Make sure to provide a full paragraph of discussion for each work.
Conclusion
As you can see now, bibliographies and annotations are really a series of organized steps. They require meticulous attention, but in the end, you’ve got an entire testimony to all the research and work you’ve done. At the end of this handout you’ll find examples of informative, indicative, evaluative, combination, telescopic, and paragraph annotated bibliography entries in MLA, APA, and CBE formats. Use these examples as your guide to creating an annotated bibliography that makes you look like the expert you are!
MLA Example
APA Example
CBE Example
©http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/annotated_bibliographies.html

An annotated bibliography is a bibliography that gives a summary of the research that has been done. It is still an alphabetical list of research sources. In addition to bibliographic data, an annotated bibliography provides a brief summary or annotation.
The annotation usually contains a brief summary of content and a short analysis or evaluation. Depending on your assignment you may be asked to reflect, summarise, critique, evaluate or analyse the source.
The purpose of annotations is to provide the reader with a summary and an evaluation of the source. In order to write a successful annotation, each summary must be concise. An annotation should display the source’s central idea(s) and give the reader a general idea of what the source is about.
An annotation should include the complete bibliographic information for the source. It should also include some or all of the following:
• An explanation about the authority and/or qualifications of the author.
• Scope or main purpose of the work.
• Any detectable bias.
• Intended audience and level of reading
• A summary comment
Ideally, an annotation should be between 100 to 200 words.
Types of annotations
Annotations may be written with different goals in mind.
Indicative annotations
This type of annotation defines the scope of the source, lists the significant topics and explains what the source is about. In this type of entry, there is no attempt to give actual data such as hypotheses, proofs, etc.
Informative annotations
This type of annotation is a summary of the source. An informative annotation should include the thesis of the work, arguments or hypotheses, proofs and a conclusion.
Evaluative annotations
This type of annotation assesses the source’s strengths and weaknesses—how the source is useful and how it is not. Simply put, an evaluative annotation should evaluate the source’s usefulness.
Combination annotations
Most annotated bibliographies contain combination annotations. This type of annotation will summarize or describe the topic, and then evaluate the source’s usefulness.
Writing styles
No matter which writing style is used for annotations, all entries should be brief. Only the most significant details should be mentioned. Information that is apparent in the title can be omitted from the annotation. In addition, background materials and any references to previous work are usually excluded.
Telegraphic
A telegraphic writing style gets the information out quickly and concisely. Maintaining clarity, complete and grammatically correct sentences are not necessary.
Complete sentences
A complete sentences writing style utilizes coherent sentences that are grammatically correct. Subjects and conjunctions are not eliminated even though the tone may be terse. Long and complex sentences are to be generally avoided.
Paragraph
A paragraph writing style utilizes a full, coherent paragraph. This can sometimes be similar to the form of a bibliographic essay. Complete sentences and proper grammar must be used.
Purpose
There are three main purposes behind writing an annotated bibliography. Each purpose can serve anyone in a different manner, depending on what they are trying to accomplish.
Learning about a topic
Writing an annotated bibliography is an excellent way to begin any research project. While it may seem easier to simply copy down bibliographical information, adding annotations will force the researcher to read each source carefully. An annotation requires the source to be critically analyzed, not simply read over.
Formulating a thesis

Any form of research paper or essay will require some form of argument. This is called a the

sis. A developed thesis needs to be debatable, interesting and current. Writing an annotated bibliography will give the researcher a clear understanding about what is being said about his/her topic. After reading and critically analyzing sources, the researcher will be able to determine what issues there are and what people are arguing about. From there, the researcher will be able to develop his/her own point of view.

To assist other researchers

Extensive and scholarly annotated bibliographies are sometimes published. The purpose of these annotated bibliographies is to provide a complete and comprehensive overview of any given topic. While a typical researcher may not have their own annotated bibliography published, a search for previously published annotated bibliographies related to their topic could prove very beneficial.
© http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annotated_bibliography

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ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY 2

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© http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annotated_bibliography

years books and alamanacs

Exercise 3

1. I was watching a Gomer Pyle episode the other day and I heard Gomer say to Sgt. Carter: “What a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.” Golly – did he make that up himself?

Source: The Columbia World of Quotations at http://www.bartleby.com/66/

I searched for the words What a tangled web we weave as Full Text (other search choices were Author and Category). Three results came up and Sir Walter Scott appears to be the originator – the other two made changes or additions to the original quote.

Attribution: Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832), Scottish novelist, poet. Marmion, canto. 6, stanza. 17 (1808).

J.R. Pope, in A Word of Encouragement, added to this the lines, “But when we’ve practised quite a while/How vastly we improve our style.”

2. A friend of mine is thinking about entering the MLIS program at San José State. He’s currently working as an LTA (library technical assistant) but understands he can earn more as a librarian, once he has his Master’s degree. How much more can he expect to earn? What kinds of additional responsibilities should he expect to take on?

The Occupational Outlook Handbook http://www.bls.gov/oco is the place to go for this information. They offer a simple search box. When I input librarian, 8 results came up, including librarians and library technicians. The entire monographs for librarians http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos068.htm and technicians http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos113.htm are quite lengthy. I have excerpted them below.

Median annual earnings of library technicians in May 2004 were $24,940.
Median annual earnings of librarians in May 2004 were $45,900.

Nature of Library Technician Work
Library technicians both help librarians acquire, prepare, and organize material and assist users in finding information. Library technicians usually work under the supervision of a librarian, although they work independently in certain situations. Technicians in small libraries handle a range of duties; those in large libraries usually specialize. As libraries increasingly use new technologies—such as CD-ROM, the Internet, virtual libraries, and automated databases—the duties of library technicians will expand and evolve accordingly. Library technicians are assuming greater responsibilities, in some cases taking on tasks previously performed by librarians.

Nature of Librarian Work (note how much longer this section is!)
Most librarian positions incorporate three aspects of library work: User services, technical services, and administrative services. Still, even librarians specializing in one of these areas have other responsibilities. Librarians in user services, such as reference and children’s librarians, work with patrons to help them find the information they need. The job involves analyzing users’ needs to determine what information is appropriate, as well as searching for, acquiring, and providing the information. The job also includes an instructional role, such as showing users how to access information. For example, librarians commonly help users navigate the Internet so they can search for relevant information efficiently. Librarians in technical services, such as acquisitions and cataloguing, acquire and prepare materials for use and often do not deal directly with the public. Librarians in administrative services oversee the management and planning of libraries: negotiate contracts for services, materials, and equipment; supervise library employees; perform public-relations and fundraising duties; prepare budgets; and direct activities to ensure that everything functions properly.

In small libraries or information centers, librarians usually handle all aspects of the work. They read book reviews, publishers’ announcements, and catalogues to keep up with current literature and other available resources, and they select and purchase materials from publishers, wholesalers, and distributors. Librarians prepare new materials by classifying them by subject matter and describe books and other library materials to make them easy to find. Librarians supervise assistants, who prepare cards, computer records, or other access tools that direct users to resources. In large libraries, librarians often specialize in a single area, such as acquisitions, cataloguing, bibliography, reference, special collections, or administration. Teamwork is increasingly important to ensure quality service to the public.

Librarians also compile lists of books, periodicals, articles, and audiovisual materials on particular subjects; analyze collections; and recommend materials. They collect and organize books, pamphlets, manuscripts, and other materials in a specific field, such as rare books, genealogy, or music. In addition, they coordinate programs such as storytelling for children and literacy skills and book talks for adults, conduct classes, publicize services, provide reference help, write grants, and oversee other administrative matters.

Librarians with computer and information systems skills can work as automated-systems librarians, planning and operating computer systems, and as information architects, designing information storage and retrieval systems and developing procedures for collecting, organizing, interpreting, and classifying information. These librarians analyze and plan for future information needs. The increasing use of automated information systems is enabling librarians to focus on administrative and budgeting responsibilities, grant writing, and specialized research requests, while delegating more technical and user services responsibilities to technicians.

3. It’s ten minutes before closing time when a young girl walks into the library and says, “Our Spanish teacher gave everybody one English word that comes from Spanish. He said we have to figure out what word it comes from and what that means in Spanish. And my word is something like… buck-er-ooh. Can you help me? I really need this for our class tomorrow!”

It sounds like the English word is commonly known as buckaroo today. It comes from a Spanish word vaquero, or a man who works with vacas (cows). I found a detailed description of the word’s background in the online Oxford English Dictionary, with examples of how it was used. My search was simply buckeroo in the simple search and the online dictionary figured it out for me (even typing buckeroo in MS Word caused the correct spelling buckaroo to present itself).

buckaroo, buckayro
Also bakhara, buckeroo, buckhara, etc. [Corruption of VAQUERO.]
1827 W. B. DEWEES Let. 16 Jan. in Lett. fr. Texas (1852) 66 These [rancheros] are surrounded by..peons and bakharas, or herdsmen.
1889 Century Dict., Buckayro…(Western U.S.).
1890 FARMER Slang, Buckhara (American), a name given in California to a cattle-driver or cowboy.
1904 N.Y. Tribune 17 July, He was herding a big bunch of cattle there with the help of half a dozen buckayros.

vaquero
[Sp. (= Pg. vaqueiro), f. vaca cow. Cf. Prov. vaquier, F. vacher, and It. vaccaro, med.L. vaccrius.]

1. In Spanish America: A cowboy or cowherd; a herdsman or cattle-driver.

4. An older woman approaches the reference desk, looking tired and worried. She says, “My husband was recently diagnosed with dementia, but they say it’s not Alzheimer’s. What’s the difference? Also, the doctor has just put him on Desyrel; I’d like to find more information about this drug, please.”

The Physician’s Desk Reference’s PDR health website is one resource for information about drugs that are available. This website is different from the print version you might find in the library in that is specifically designed for patient use. http://www.pdrhealth.com/drug_info/rxdrugprofiles/drugs/des1128.shtml

Typing in the drug name yields a drug monograph that describes the drug in various sections:

Why is Desyrel prescribed?
Most important fact about Desyrel
How should you take Desyrel?
Desyrel side effects
Special warnings about Desyrel
Possible food and drug interactions when taking Desyrel

5. The following message appears in your Ask a Librarian e-mail: “I need information about Mauritius for a social studies report. Thanks. Adam.” Please recommend 2 useful reference sources for Adam (and remember – he may need a bit of instruction in using them).

I LOVE the CIA World Factbook http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/ and hope to turn Adam on to it as well. They have a nifty pull-down menu where you can find a country by name and it pops up a page that is divided up into the following sections: Introduction, Geography, People, Government, Economy, Communications, Transportation, Military, Transnational Issues. It also has the country’s flag and numerous maps.

Another easy-to-use source is the freely-available Information Please Almanac http://www.infoplease.com/almanacs.html. You simply type the name of the country into the search box and select from a list of results. The results can sometimes be confusing, but for a simple search like a country name, the first result is usually pretty good.

6. A middle school student is doing a report on the musician Prince for his class and wants to know: “What’s his real name?” Oh, and his teacher says he needs several sources for this report; please identify 3 reference sources where he could quickly find biographical information about Prince.

I wanted to show the student the value of using the library’s online resources, so I first tried the online American National Biography (ANB), but it did not contain Prince. I resorted to the three easy, free, online sources below. Each allowed me to simply type in Prince and yielded the correct person with little to no scrolling. The nice thing about ANB is that it has search limits such as the person’s field (or “realm of renown”), place of birth, and range of dates for birth or death.

Biography.com http://www.biography.com/search/article.do?id=9447278
Prince (1958– ) stage name by which Prince Roger Nelson is most widely known

Biographical dictionary http://www.s9.com/biography/search.html
Prince (orig. Prince Rogers Nelson; the Purple One, the Artist Formerly Known as Prince, TAFKAP, the Artist)

Who2 http://who2.com/prince.html
Prince: Name at birth: Prince Roger Nelson

7. You get a phone call from a bar (you can hear glasses clinking and loud laughter in the background). A man’s voice slurs the following: “Hey, library person! Can you help us out with a bet here? I’m sayin’ that Australian lady, Yvonne Goolagong, was a Wimbledon champion in singles and in doubles, and my buddy here says she wasn’t. Who’s right?”

I first tried the free web sources used in question 6. After no hits in 2 of them, I did a google search to verify the spelling of the name and found it to be Evonne Goolagong. I re-searched the free resources and still came up with zero.

The Biography Resource Center (via SJ Library) gave me a record from Great Women in Sports. Visible Ink Press, 1996. The answer is “singles only at Wimbledon.”

CAREER
Won the French Open and Wimbledon singles competition, 1971; won Australian Open singles competition, 1974-77; won Australian Open doubles crown, 1971, 1974, 1975, and 1976; helped Australia to win Federation Cups, 1971, 1973, and 1974; won Wimbledon singles competition, 1980.

8. A serious looking student comes into the library and says: “I have to do a paper on Beowulf for my Honors English class, and I think I want to write about Anglo-Saxon warfare and weapons. When we were reading it I saw that they use a variation of the word ‘sword’ in there. Where does that word come from? When was it first used in the English language?”

The online Oxford English Dictionary (OED) via SJSU databases is a great place for the answer about where sword was first used in the English language. It lists the first usage as being from Beowulf in the year 971 ad.: Beowulf 2638 (Gr.) Helmas and heard sweord. 971

I’m going to give you two choices of resources for the etymology and you can choose how deep you’d like to go: Webster’s unabridged (see citation below) gives a fine, quick answer; the OED goes way in depth. Webster’s gives a great explanation of how to read the etymology. The OED is not so clear, but I’ve downloaded their entire Help pdf, so that we can try to decipher it, as needed.

Webster’s:
[ME swerd, sword, fr. OE sweord; akin to OHG swert sword, ON sverth, Av xvara wound; basic meaning: to cut, stab]
Quick translation: Middle English from Old English; related to words in Old High German, Old Norse, and Avestan (a language from Iran in the pre-Christian era).

OED:
[OE. sweord str. n. = OS., OFris. swerd, MLG. swert, MDu. swaert (Du. zwaard), OHG., MHG. swert (G. schwert), ON. sver (Sw. svärd, Da. sverd):OTeut. *swerdom.]

Gove, P.B. (1993). Webster’s Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged. Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, Inc.

In Webster’s I looked up sword alphabetically and used the Explanation and Abbreviations sections at the front of the volume. I also looked up the definition of Avestan.

In the online OED, I searched for sword and clicked on the Etymology and Date chart buttons to find the two answers.

9. An undergraduate approaches the reference desk. She is doing a paper on the year she was born (1987) and wants to know: what are two major political events, one major scientific event, and one major artistic or musical event that happened that year? Please see if you can help her locate this information using only one source.

-U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Gen. Sec. Mikhail Gorbachev of the U.S.S.R. signed (Dec. 1987) the INF disarmament treaty.
-The Iran-contra affair (Oliver North’s TV testimony, July 1987) was a major political scandal.
-A vaccine for certain types of meningitis was introduced by Gordon, et al.
-Les Misérables opened on Broadway.

First I tried Britannica Book of the Year online, but it doesn’t appear to go back to 1987. I also tried Facts on File World News Digest via LexisNexis, but I was not pleased with its searching options and despite having a date range limit, it did not yield many good results.

The above results came from the World Almanac and Book Of Facts online via LexisNexis. I wasn’t in love with the results, but I was able to find them pretty easily. I first searched for 1987 (222 hits) and then refined three times by adding the keywords politics (6 hits), science (4 hits), and art (25 hits).

Either after this quick search—or likely instead of it—I would guide the student to the print edition of the various yearbooks (Britannica Book of the Year, Europa World Year Book, etc.) that the library owns where browsing is likely to yield better results than the online resources.

10. For your birthday, a friend who loves the fact that you’re in library school gives you a little book he found at a garage sale: The seven joys of reading, by Mary Plummer. As you read it, you find yourself wanting to know more about Ms. Plummer. Where might you find a brief biography of her – one that includes a bibliography of additional readings? And if you find you want to do some serious research – what archives hold material about her?

I first used the Biography Resource Center online via SJPL databases. The search is simply by author’s name. Only one Mary Plummer came up. The biography was sufficient, but the bibliography was rather scant, so I moved on to American National Biography online via SJSU. It fit the bill exactly.

Bibliography
Archives pertaining to Mary Wright Plummer are in the Pratt Institute Library, Brooklyn, N.Y., which contains correspondence to the administrators of Pratt Institute as well as to her family and friends, photographs, and drafts and copies of her publications. Material concerning her management of the library school at the New York Public Library is split between the New York Public Library Archives and Special Collections of the Columbia University Library. The archives of the American Library Association at the University of Illinois in Urbana can be consulted for her work in that organization. Some biographical material, as well as an evaluation of Plummer’s contribution to librarianship, is in “Memorial Meeting for Mary Wright Plummer,” Library Journal 41 (Dec. 1916): 889-91, and in a pamphlet, Meeting in Memory of Mary Wright Plummer, Stuart Room, New York Public Library . . . (1916). A brief comment on her life is in Anne Carroll Moore, “Mary Wright Plummer, 1856-1916,” Bulletin of Bibliography 14 (1930): 1-3. An obituary is in the New York Times, 22 Sept. 1916.

11. Unabridged or desk dictionary comparison (worth 20 points!): Please compare two of the unabridged or desk dictionaries on the source list. You may find the discussion of how to compare dictionaries (B&S pp. 412-413) useful.

Gove, P.B. (1993). Webster’s Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged (3rd ed.). Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster.

This is a very large, unabridged dictionary whose goal is to be “a prime linguistic aid to interpreting the culture and civilization [of the English speaking world] of today.” This 3rd edition from 1993 is based on the 1961 2nd edition. It is 2662 pages long and contains over 450,000 words and 6 million examples of recorded usage, i.e., quotes of the words as used in printed works. It contains extensive explanatory notes that are useful, but are relatively complicated and require the user to dive in wholeheartedly. This includes a daunting pronunciation guide and help in reading the each part of an entry: etymologies, status labels, verbal illustrations, etc. It highlights the inclusion of taxonomic entries and scientific and technical terms, including employing specialists to prepare them. I’ve owned this dictionary for years (It was a gift) and I love it.

Plusses: It pretty much has everything, word-wise; one-page pronunciation guide is good for general use; verbal illustrations give the user context to common usage (e.g. practicing …); extensive examples of recorded use give further context and are generally pretty cool.
Minuses: No in-depth usage notes (see discussion of Random House); complete pronunciation guide is difficult to wade through; explanatory notes are complicated.

Random House Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary (2nd ed.). (2001). New York: Random House.

The goal of this dictionary is “to meet the wide-ranging needs of today’s students and scholars, who study ancient documents one day and surf the Internet the next; of professional writers, who craft poems or write articles for technical journals; of businesspeople, who need to communicate clearly, whether face-to-face or fax-to-fax; and–above all–the needs of word lovers.” It is not quite as large as the Merriam-Webster (MW) unabridged, containing 315,000 entries in 2229 pages. Further dwarfing its coverage of words is that those entries include a multitude of non-word entries that are absent in the MW book. In fact, Random House (RH) takes pride in a different focus.

This dictionary has a feel that it is meant for the user, rather than just to be about the language. It contains numerous entries, sections, spot maps, and illustrations that seem more likely housed in an almanac: “Entries for important and famous people; for places, historical events; major works of literature, music and art; names and abbreviations of academic, governmental, social, and fraternal organizations; popular given names; common abbreviations; and foreign terms. Entries and definitions for current place names, reflecting recent political and geographical changes worldwide.” Endangered species are identified. A Basic Manual of Style is included in the back. Features such as “Guidelines for avoiding insensitive and offensive language in both writing and speaking” and the “List of Words Commonly Confused” make this book quite different from your average dictionary.

Plusses: Exceptional usage notes (e.g., the fact that the verb forms of impact are relatively new [it used to be only a noun]; the difference between prescriptive and descriptive uses of the words farther and further [can you tell I’m in my element?]); very user-friendly How to Use section; simple half-page pronunciation chart; excellent lengthy pronunciation guide, including discussion of the differences between the system RH uses and IPA (the International Phonetic Alphabet) – I’m a former linguist and I was very impressed with this section.

Minuses: New words section is rather small (1000 entries); why waste space with things such as lists of wedding anniversary gifts, birthstones, airport codes, lakes of the world? I wouldn’t go to a dictionary for these and I’d rather have more words!

Don’t tell my old Merriam-Webster, but I really like this Random House dictionary.

I did a comparison look-up of six words: impact; travesty; farther; further; pome; and expletive. I’ve gone on too long already, so I’ll keep this part brief. Generally, MW did a fine job listing traditionally accepted uses of the words, but anything additional that I was looking for was missing. The usage notes in RH fill in the gaps and puts words in the context of their histories (see above examples under RH plusses). MW sometimes had more detailed etymologies, but RH etymologies almost always contain dates, that are lacking in MW. Neither dictionary had a usage note for travesty which is very commonly misused. Despite the great usage note for farther/further in RH, the entry for further contained contradictory information.