You're writing an annotated bibliography. What does that mean?
Therefore, an annotated bibliography is a list of sources with notes on each source.
Examples of annotated bibliographies can be found on this page from Columbia College in Canada:
The sources in your bibliography should all be scholarly sources, not popular sources.
This video explains the differences:
Video credit: Carnegie Vincent Library at Lincoln Memorial University.
Use Quest to search the library's physical collection and the contents of most of the library's electronic databases.
Background information
"Background information" means short overviews or summaries of a topic. The top Google results for any given topic are usually background information, including sites such as Wikipedia. You can also find background information in print encyclopedias. Simpson Library has a large collection of print encyclopedias in the Reference section on the first floor.
Background information is really useful. It's meant to be used when you're first starting your research. It helps you familiarize yourself with a new topic. However, do not cite background information. The reason why you shouldn't cite it is that it is not original. It merely repeats and summarizes what other people have said. It's better to get the information straight from the original source.
Databases
You can use Quest to search all subjects, or use individual databases to search specific subjects (such as English literature). Out of the 200+ databases that UMW subscribes to, these are the most useful databases for English literature topics:
Depending on your topic, you might also look in databases that cover other subjects. For example, if you're researching Victorian photography or cartooning, you might look in our art databases. The list of pre-approved topics also includes topics in history, medicine, ethics, physics, and politics.
Books in the library
Use Quest to discover books in the library, and then use call numbers to find those books on the shelves. Here's an explanation of how our call numbers work.
Books about Lewis Carroll and the Alice books are shelved on the second floor of Simpson Library, between the call numbers PR 4611 and PR 4612.
Copies of the Alice books are shelved in the Juvenile & Young Adults section of the library, at the call number PZ8 .D666. The Juvenile & Young Adult section is on the first floor of the library, behind the central stairwell. We also have electronic copies of the Alice books, which you can find by searching in Quest and limiting your search to "Full Text Online."
In Dr. Scanlon's description of the assignment, she recommends that you follow these steps:
Please see the official assignment description for more advice and instructions.
Here are the PowerPoint slides for my presentation to your class. Click in the lower right corner to expand the slides to full screen.
Advice and recommendations for FSEMs in general, and for English literature research.
The Citing Resources guide gives you examples of perfectly-formatted citations. Zotero is a free app that keeps track of the sources you've found, and generates citations without any typing.