Using annotated bibliographies to develop student writing in social sciences

In this chapter we talk about work we have been doing in incorporating annotated bibliographies into undergraduate writing classes for students from the social sciences. We have been doing this work as a means of developing their academic language and literacy practices, subject-specific knowledge and disciplinary identities. This chapter begins with an overview of the field of academic literacies and how this field of research has shaped and informed our practice. We then discuss how this approach benefits students and helps them in the production of their written texts: examples of how we have used annotated bibliographies to develop students’ writing are provided before we finish with a discussion of some of the challenges when using such an approach.