I really enjoyed the idea of annotated bibliographies because they gave me a head-start on future essays, but at the same time made it easier to understand what I was reading during the novels in class. For our first essay, we needed to discuss the hardships of traumatic events and mental illnesses such as post- traumatic stress disorder ( PTSD). Being able to read articles about trauma, while also reading the novel Ordinary People, which deals firsthand with a family who is suffering from PTSD, gave me more insight as to exactly how the characters were feeling and what they were going through emotionally. Having a preexisting knowledge on the subject of mental illness due to the annotated bibliographies made it easier to understand why certain characters acted differently than others when exposed to trauma. Usually coming up on writing long papers, I don´t necessarily know where to start. Finding the sources for the paper, as I was reading the novel made it easier to collect my thoughts for a future essay.