American Psychological Association

Creator of this reference stile Reference List: an alphabetical list of all sources you find during research whether or not you use them in your
paper
In-text citations: author’s name, date of publication, and page number in parentheses after quoting a source
within the text of a paper
Annotated bibliography: an alphabetical list of all sources you find during research along with a summary of
each source whether or not you use them in your paper
Step One: Choose a topic and subtopic
Below are 24 topics across various subjects. Choose one that is of the most interest to you. Then narrow it down
to something more specific.
Step Two: Find sources, take notes, and draft the Annotated Bibliography
For each source below, write its bibliography entry as it would appear on a bibliography page. Use the APA
resources to find the appropriate format for each type of source.
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/common_writing_assignments/annotated_bibliographies/index.html

Use library.ncc.edu to find the following resources. If you are conducting research at home, you will have to
log into the library site to see your resources.
Depending on your topic, choose two databases listed below for your research.
Academic Search Complete: A collection of peer-reviewed journals, magazines, reports, monographs,
conference proceedings and government documents. Topics covered include biology, chemistry, engineering,
physics, psychology, religion, & theology and more.
Applied Science & Technology Source: Content from leading trade and industrial journals, professional and
technical society journals, specialized subject periodicals, buyers’ guides, directories, conference proceedings
with focus on traditional engineering challenges & research, as well as research concerning the business and
social implications of new technology.
Environment Complete: Covers applicable areas of agriculture, ecosystem ecology, energy, renewable energy
sources, natural resources, marine & freshwater science, geography, pollution & waste management,
environmental law, urban planning and more.
GreenFILE: A resource designed to help individuals and organizations interested in reducing the negative
impact and increasing the positive impact they have on the environment.
Health Reference Center Academic: Informational material on medicine, nutrition, fitness, pregnancy,
diseases, alcohol and drug abuse, HMOs, and other health care industry issues.
IEEE STEM Journals: Collection covers numerous technology areas such as aerospace, computing, electrical
engineering, and robotics.
JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association): Full text coverage from 1998 to current issues in
medicine.
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Science Direct: Access to scientific, technical and medical research in over 1,200 journals covering all fields of
science.
Here’s the link to the ENG 103 LibGuide to find the direct database links.
http://library.ncc.edu/science_writing/databases
Step Three: Organize the information into a formal Annotated Bibliography
Once you have all the sources and quotes, organize them in alphabetical order by the first letter in the entries.
Follow the notes on APA format to see how to set up the page. Write a summary for each source based on the
quotes you wrote down. Proofread, edit, and revise the bibliography.
Step Four: Review your information
Highlight the sources you think are the best according to the criteria we listed when we discussed “Good
Sources.”
Step Five: Create a thesis statement / statement of purpose
Based on the topic, subtopic, prior knowledge, and research, formulate a thesis statement. The thesis is a
statement you would like to prove using the information you’ve found.
Step Six: Outline
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/apa_sample_pape
r.html
Review the parts of an APA paper.
Type an outline that includes your topic sentences, thesis statement/statement of purpose, and references to
sources.
Step Seven: Write the abstract
Write and revise an abstract that summarizes your paper.
Step Eight: Write the paper
Write your paper based on the outline and your research. Use the handouts and links to APA documentation to
properly incorporate sources.
Step Nine: Revise the paper
Workshop and revise the paper.
And then you’re done. Hooray!
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Topics

  1. Workers’ Self-Directed Enterprises as a possible solution to today’s troubled economy. Can businesses operate
    without owners, CEOs, managers, stockholders? Can workers serve as their own boards of directors? Can
    businesses operate without owners and managers? See “Democracy at Work” where Workers’ Self-Directed
    Enterprises are described. What do you see as strengths and weaknesses, desirability or non-desirability of such
    workplace arrangements? [Economics, sociology, political science]
  2. Advantages and disadvantages of student-run schools. [Education, Political science, participatory economics,
    literature]
  3. What is the psychology of dreaming? Do our dreams mean anything? Are they important? What are the theories
    of Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, the Gestaldt School? What does contemporary cognitive research reveal about
    dream phenomena? Can dreams solve problems? [Personality, psychology, social-psychology]
  4. Is fast food the new tobacco? [Nutrition, economics]
  5. Is pop culture actually good for you? [Culture, media, social media, gaming]
  6. Why does it matter who wins the big game? [Sociology of sports]
  7. What is burnout in school or work? How to deal with it? [Education, career, motivation, psychology]
  8. Recognizing a dysfunctional family. Are dysfunctional families isolated, or do they partake of dysfunctions in
    the larger culture? [Cultural studies, sociology, economics, literature]
  9. Is there a necessary correlation between exercise, fitness, good nutrition, health, work ethic and brain power for
    academic and long-term financial well being? [sociology, health science]
  10. What are emotions? How do they happen in the brain? How many emotions are there? Can emotions be
    categorized? What do they add to human intelligence? What might they subtract? [Psychology]
  11. Breast milk for profit? [Health science, economics]
  12. A study of healthy vs. unhealthy romantic relationships. [social psychology]
  13. Intelligent life on other planets. Is there a Twin Earth out there? If it has intelligent life, what would it think of
    us? What if it was also populated by humans and had gotten its history off to a better start than we did? What
    would it look like?
  14. Strange phenomena: Big Foot, the Loch Ness Monster, UFOs, ESP, mysterious hums. [Where natural
    phenomena meet social psychology?]
  15. Research one aspect of the underground economy. [Criminology, sociology, cultural anthropology, economics]
  16. Screen addiction and brain wiring: are children too plugged in and tuned out of the real world more than experts
    consider healthy? Or do they have a kind of wisdom, an instinct for a very different and possibly better future?
    [Bio-sociology]
  17. American food and the rise of autoimmune disease. [Health sciences, nutrition, biology]
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  18. Evolution of agriculture and feeding the world’s growing population. Will we be getting more protein from
    insects? What about Genetically Modified Foods? [Biology]
  19. Do you owe the moon your life? Explain. [Astronomy]
  20. What is dark energy? Dark matter? [Astrophysics]
  21. Do we live in a narcissistic culture? [Sociology, Cultural Theory]
  22. “The God Particle”: In 1964 Peter Higgs and other scientists posited the existence of an unknown sub-atomic
    particle that could give evidence supporting one or another theory of the cosmos. In what scientific way might
    that particle be confirmed? The confirmation of the Higgs Boson, it was argued, might well support the radical
    idea of a multiverse. Or it might prove the more accepted supersymmetry theory. Are there multiple universes?
    Can the Higgs Boson provide us with a definitive yes or no? [Particle Physics]
  23. “Mars: Are we there yet? I’m thirsty.” If not, when? How? [Astronomy]
  24. Digital (or Virtual) Immortality. Does the Cloud or an avatar offer an “immortality of consciousness” in a type
    of digital paradise, or afterlife as in the Elysian Fields of Greek myth? (Look up “Elysium.”) Or, might that
    backfire? If our bodies could die but not our consciousness (or soul), what happens? [Computer science]

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