Annotated Bibliographies

de la Cruz 1

Juan de la Cruz

Dr. Jane Smith

ENGL 219

23 June 2021

Annotated List of Works Cited

Johns, Linda. For the Birds: Nature Notes from a Woodland Studio. McClelland & Stewart, 1999.

Linda Johns is a Nova Scotia artist and creative non-fiction writer. The book For the Birds: Nature Notes from a Woodland Studio is a charming account of the inhabitants of the indoor bird sanctuary she has in her rural home. As a writer, the author clearly has talent; the book is well-written and frequently laugh-out-loud funny. One of Johns’ previous books won the 1994 Edna Stebler Award for Creative Non-fiction. The publisher, McClelland & Stewart, is respected and well-established, especially in the realm of Canadian literature. However, the information in For the Birds is anecdotal; while suitable for a wide range of readers, it is not appropriately scientific to use as a source for a research paper. There are no references supplied, and the author clearly has an environmentalist agenda.

Murray, Susan. “Reality Television (U.S.).” Encyclopedia of Television, 2 nd ed., Vol. 3, Fitzroy Dearborn, 2004, pp. 1900-1902.

Susan Murray, an Assistant Professor of Culture and Communication at New York University, is the author of this encyclopedia article. The encyclopedia article outlines a brief history of reality television in the United States. The article ncludes a short list of types of programming deemed reality television and a few examples of early American reality TV programs. The encyclopedia is published with the support of the Museum of Broadcast Journalism, an institution housing major television archives. Murray’s particular article, while well-referenced, is limited in scope, focusing on American television. It does not deal with the issues of participant recruitment, psychological effects on past participants, nor the sustainability of the genre. This article could be a useful first resource for defining the topic of reality television. It would be of limited use to advanced researchers or those seeking information about the future of the genre or possible societal impacts.

Red Deer Polytechnic Library