1. Select Topic
Your topic should be neither too broad nor too narrow, but engage with a specific research question. You may not have a thesis yet, but will form one in the course of reading sources. Consider some strategies for selecting and refining a topic.
2. Locate Sources
This is a time-consuming process when writing an annotated bibliography. Remember your annotated bibliography should only include peer reviewed sources. One of the best ways to find this kind of material is Scopus.
3. Read and Evaluate Sources
Evaluating a source is about more than reading the abstract. You are tasked with finding three different protocols for assessing thermal perfomance. As you assess potential sources, be sure they can provide you with species studied, protocol temperature range, rate of temperature change, adjustment period (temperature and duration), mechanism of temperature manipulation, and advantages / disadvantages for this protocol.
Writing
1. Create Citations
For Bio 195F, you will be using the Ecology Letters journal citation style. Your citations should also include a "hanging first line", whereby the first line of the citation sits further to the right on the page with subsequent lines indented. This is a special indentation feature offered in the paragraph formatting section of Word (or other word-processing software).
2. Write Annotations
Each annotation immediately follows the citation, and consists of a short, evaluative paragraph. For Bio 195F, your annotation should include the elements:
Species Studied:
Protocol temperature range
Rate of temperature change
“Adjustment period” (temperature and duration)
Mechanism of temperature manipulation
Advantages / disadvantages for this protocol
What about formatting?
Most of the major citation styles call for a hanging first line on annotated bibliographies. This means the first line of the citation will align with the left margin of the page, and all subsequent lines of the citation and annotation will indent to the right.
Bobcat, B., Alumna, C. & Vvidyaarthee, P. (2025). Temperature-dependent respirometry in Makus upicus adults. The Fictitious Journal of Ecological Respirometry, 45, 1205–1228.
The effects of temperature change on Makus upicus CO2 production was measured using “flow-through” respirometry. Temperature was established, maintained, and changed via a computer-controlled electric heating element (Toasters-R-Us; Model 8URN3D). Test subjects were first temperature equilibrated at the starting temperature (4°C, 15°C, 23°C, or 37°C) for 15 minutes and then CO2 evolution was measured as temperature was increased (10°C per hour) from initial temperature to a final temperature of 42°C. Computer-controlled nichrome heating was considered a significant improvement over the more commonly used “blow torch” heating method because of more precise and accurate temperature control and fewer laboratory fires.