annotated biblography in network security

annotated biblography in network security

The Importance of Annotated Bibliography in Network Security

1. Introduction

Annotated bibliography (AB) embodies a list of citations to articles, books, and documents. Each citation is followed by a brief descriptive and evaluative paragraph, the annotation. The main goal of creating an annotated bibliography is to record the sources of information that have been utilized within a content. Although it may seem to be a laborious task, it is an essential step for students to take in order to avoid falling into the trap of plagiarizing and lose marks unfairly. This is because often, students tend to lose track of the sources of information which they have utilized, thus leading to the offense of plagiarizing when they fail to attribute credit where required. The consequences of committing plagiarism can be severe, especially in institutions and organizations which are stringent about academic ethics. Nowadays, many students are starting to see the significance of using an annotated bibliography in their research projects. In the fast-paced information environment of today, there is a great deal of information that is available and yet difficult to find. Thus, by providing this information, an annotated bibliography helps the comprehension of information and making it more accessible. An annotated bibliography plays a crucial role in conducting research as it provides a concise summary of each source and examines its importance and reliability. By evaluating the quality and relevance of the source, it helps refine the research focus and choose the most appropriate sources to fulfill the objective. A network security professional must consider and use an annotated bibliography when they are conducting their research in the area of network security.

2. Benefits of Annotated Bibliography in Network Security

An annotated bibliography is a great tool to learn the needed information from the resource being covered. With an internet-based annotated bibliography, a quick synopsis of a particular topic can help filter whether the contents of the resource are relevant to what is being researched. If the information is deemed irrelevant, the annotated bibliography can suggest what the article contains. If the summary might be deemed to contain information that is beneficial, the annotated bibliography can instruct to skim the article. If the resource is directly related to contents that need to be researched, the summary can instruct to thoroughly read and take notes from the article. With this method, the researcher saves ample time soaking in information in regard to finding a particular resource from skim reading numerous articles to see if the contents are relevant.

When getting information on a particular domain, topic, or subject, it is rather difficult to filter through all the resources. Sometimes it is hard to determine which resource is going to be most beneficial to the contents that need to be researched. To seek information that is relevant to the researcher or informational reader of a certain subject, a closer look is by recommendation from a well-qualified peer of the researcher. It is to utilize an annotated bibliography. This mode of utilizing has seems to become more popular in regards to a more precise and accurate search. Although the process of searching and narrowing down resources is time-consuming, this method of accumulation is probably the most precise way to find the best resources.

3. Key Components of Annotated Bibliography in Network Security

There are several key components which are necessary to ensure that the information found is relevant to the topic. These include preciseness, coherence, simplification, and consistency. An annotated bibliography is, in its nature, a summary of the information found, so it is essential to be precise on the type of information needed. This is determined through breaking the topic into smaller parts and developing questions related to each part. The summary found must be coherent with the question and not be misleading. It is a common problem to have information that is not completely related to the topic and may cause inconvenience to the reader. This information must be simplified so that it is easier to assess whether it is relevant. Finally, if the information is good to keep, there must be consistency in the reference. This is apparent through the standard of reference usually shown from the author, title, and year of publication.

People who do not have much knowledge about the concept of annotated bibliography believe that it is just the list of references at the end of the work and tend to ignore it. However, it is something that is more than just a simple list. In order to develop a good annotated bibliography, it is necessary to establish a foundation where the writer understands what he is looking for and how he will be able to determine whether the information found is appropriately linked to the topic.

4. Examples of Annotated Bibliography in Network Security

This internet source provided an article by Macaulay Brown Inc. employees, co-authored between Steve Bellovin and William Aiello, to be presented in the Ubiquitous Network Technologies Workshop in 2003. It describes security vulnerabilities and threats to an ever increasingly important technology, Ad Hoc network, and proposes security solutions by establishing a security mandating state at the system level and forcing the user to authenticate to change it, much like the user authentication through the “su root” command in UNIX.

McGowan, B. (n.d.). Prospective Security Areas for Ad Hoc Network Components. Retrieved January 5, 2006, from The Computer & Communications Security (CCS) Group at Stanford University website: [Link]

The first example is of an annotated bibliography in Standard APA style, on internet sources. This example is taken from a website on Purdue OWL.

In this session, experts in network security will contribute an example of an annotated bibliography. The objective of this portion is to guide students in doing an annotated bibliography and to establish a guideline for students in this course as well as in other courses, as an annotated bibliography is very important in many fields. It would also be useful for the students to compare the examples given with the feedback from the experts. Here are the examples:

5. Conclusion

An annotated bibliography is crucial to the outcome of a research paper. It helps the reader to better understand the sources used and to better grasp the information or data discussed throughout the paper. An “annotation” is a note of explanation and it has two main functions. It informs readers on how to understand and utilize the source in a research paper, and it also explains the author’s main ideas and purpose. By including both the annotation and the bibliographic entry, the reader can easily determine the usefulness of the source and evaluate the author’s argument to decide if they need more information on the same subject from other sources for better understanding on the topic. Annotated bibliographies are useful tools in planning a research project or paper, but preparing one can also be beneficial. In relation to the annotated bibliography written, my research project was on the effects of the September 11, 2001 attacks on United States Immigration Laws with regards to immigration from Muslim countries. While preparing the annotated bibliography I found that a few entries did not have much relevant information on the topic and were difficult to analyze. By reading the annotation and making a decision that the source was not overly beneficial to my research my evaluation was confirmed when I found that the fourth source was not different from the third source in regards to immigration laws but more so about the hardships of Muslims living in America post 9/11. This led to the decision that I should modify my research topic, and the annotations would help explain to my instructor why certain sources were not utilized. Annotated bibliographies can be useful resourceful paper in smaller or shorter research papers and in some cases can be a paper on its own. With the college and university educations in American and UK adapting to written teachings, it is essential that we learn the concepts and ideas of a seminar or book without having to teach learned information. An education student researching Piaget’s stages of development could find that without any clear understanding of what was learned and no tangible evidence on the subject. An annotated bibliography of clear and concise notes would help this student understand the theory and findings of the famous psychologists learning to apply the stages in an educational setting.