First off, I would say that it was difficult for me just choosing a topic because I had a few ideas in mind and so it was hard to narrow it down to one. My other problem was choosing my sources; although we had an extensive tutorial in class about how to maneuver the online library page, I still encountered some difficulties with my search but that was quickly solved by chatting with an online library representative. He was able to video chat with me and helped guide me in searching for credible sources. While searching, I did come across other topics making me think that maybe I should change or further narrow the topic that I picked. In the end I decided to just stick to my original topic. Another challenge for me was verifying that my sources were reliable. This entire process was indeed very time consuming for me.
Once I chose my sources, I had difficulties again coming up with a thesis statement and just summarizing, using the appropriate format, and reaching the required word count. To better help me format my annotated bibliography, I did some google searches and found that extremely helpful – I know the professor gave us a rough outline, but I felt like I needed to see some examples as well. I came across many examples and those were super helpful. What I can say is that the research really helped because I learnt a lot more about my topic (COVID-19 Pandemic and Mental Health impact on Children and Adolescents), and I hope my readers can as well. I also learnt a lot about annotated bibliographies in the process, as the whole concept is new to me.
I believe for next time; I would already know what format to use and what an annotated bibliography entails and hopefully, moving forward I would just need to narrow my topic as much possible and find better strategies to verify the authenticity of my sources. In the end, I believe that I came up with some good sources which I hope has helped me come up with a good enough first draft for my essay.
