Luna 1

Lorenzo Luna

ENGL 1302-231

Dr. Sharity Nelson

11 February 2024

Annotated Bibliography Reflection

In this first bibliography of my academic career, I learned how to research and found

topics of interest. Using keywords such as “concussions, sports, treatment, etc” all helped me

further my searching ability for my topics of interest. The library research packet had me looking

through the EBSCO finder through TAMIU’s databases. Without it I would not have had access

to the plethora of knowledge I obtained for my bibliography. Starting my draft was rather

difficult for me because I was a little lost on the steps by step process and formatting. Once I

reviewed all the steps I was better able to grasp the concept and it was all uphill from there. The

assignments about plagiarism really helped my final draft as I was “stealing” a good amount of

direct quotes without proper credit or citations. When reviewing these assignments I was able to

format my sources and hopefully obtain a better grade. Academic research is not really a concept

I’m too strong with as it’s all relatively a new concept to me, but after the quizzes, workshops,

conferences, and peer reviews, I feel better prepared for the course going forward.

Using this knowledge in other courses such as my “UNIV” class will be beneficial as we

are currently assigned a bibliography for our end of semester project. Dr. Espinosa briefly went

into depth on how to obtain the proper sources for research which left some of the class puzzles,

but not mea as this course has enlightened my brain on professional research. It’s safe to say I

have a sizable advantage over my peers due to this process.

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The biggest advantage to writing bibliographies is without a doubt the formatting and

precision that comes with it. Repetition in the process helps me memorize the formatting without

having me to continuously recheck the examples. I feel more confident in my understanding of

annotations as I worked on it extensively and I know this knowledge will end up paying off in

the future in my other courses, but we will cross that bridge when we get there. I’ve always been

a decent writer, often letting my brain takeover without any “limitations' ', but having those safe

boundaries that I had to abide by helped guide me to the end goal of finishing my first annotated

bibliography.

Conferencing with Dr. Nelson elevated my paper to the next level, as what I turned in

was just a skeleton of the final project. I was really lost at one point and nearly everything I had

written down was wrong, but her in depth conference assisted me in the completion of this

bibliography. I struggled with the initial citations of the name, journal, dates, etc but she better

broke it down telling me to reference the example on Blackboard. It got to the point where I can

now memorize the formatting, so there isn’t a need to be rechecking and going back and forth

between tabs.

My peers were extremely helpful to the completion of my bibliography, as the more eyes

that can view my paper, the better. In my previous English class I had only one peer, but now

having two I have more eyes and fresh perspectives from here on out. They taught me the

formatting like Dr. Nelson did, which helped reassure me it was possible to learn this new

concept as my peers proved it was possible. They would also break down my bloated statements

telling me to trim it down as I can ramble at times. Chopping down the excess and just leaving

the necessary information was without a doubt the most important step in giving my paper a

clear direction.
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As previously stated, the most difficult part of the assignment was the formatting of the

essay, on top of the citations. The repetition was better for me as I could memorize the patterns to

complete the paper. The saying “practice makes perfect” truly did apply to this paper and I’m

grateful it did. The easiest part of the assignment was having a clear goal on what I wanted to

present and research on. Sports concussion have always fascinated me and I knew I wanted to

write about it, so writing and researching from a plethora of sources was rather easy to me.

There were a lot of ups and downs in this paper which at times frustrated me, but

eventually enough willpower got me through. The support ranging from my professor to the

peers greatly assisted in the completion of my first annotated bibliography. I feel much more

prepared and confident in the future for tasks similar to this and I’m ready to tackle them when

they get there.

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Works Cited

Luna, Lorenzo . “Annotated Bibliography: Draft 1.” 2 February 2024. ENGL 1302, Texas A&M

International University, homework assignment.

Luna, Lorenzo. “Library Research Packet” by Seminole State College. 26 January 2024. ENGL

1302, Texas A&M International University, homework assignment.

Nelson, Sharity. “Concussion in Athletes: An Annotated Bibliography” Final Draft. 9 February

2024. ENGL 1302, Texas A&M International University.

Luna, Lorenzo. Original Research versus Literature Review Classroom Activity. 19 January

2024. ENGL 1302, Texas A&M International University.

Seminole State College. “Library Research Packet.” 26 January 2024. ENGL 1302, Texas A&M

International University, homework assignment