Annotated Bibliographies

Annotated Bibliography

To start with, a bibliography is a list of sources (books, journals, websites, periodicals, etc.) that you have used for researching a topic. Bibliographies are sometimes called "Reference Lists" or "Works Cited" lists depending on the citation style you are using (e.g., MLA, APA, Chicago). A bibliography usually just includes bibliographic information (the author, title, publisher, etc.).

An annotation is a summary and/or an evaluation of something.

Therefore, an annotated bibliography is a bibliography that includes a summary and/or evaluation of each of your sources.

An annotated bibliography is a list of sources (books, articles, websites, etc.) with short paragraph about each source. An annotated bibliography is sometimes a useful step before drafting a research paper, or it can stand alone as an overview of the research available on a topic.

Each source in the annotated bibliography has a full citation as would appear at the end of paper in a standard format (APA, MLA, etc.) followed by the annotation.

Annotations are about 4 to 6 sentences long (roughly 150 words), and address:

Main focus or purpose of the work
Usefulness or relevance to your reseach topic
Special features of the work that were unique or helpful
Background and credibility of the author
Conclusions or observations reached by the author
Conclusions or observations reached by you

How to Analyze Sources

Summarize: Some annotations merely summarize the source. What are the main arguments? What is the point of this book or article? What topics are covered? If someone asked what this article/book is about, what would you say?

Assess: After summarizing a source, you need to evaluate it. Is it a useful source? How does it compare with other sources in your bibliography? Is the information reliable? Is the source objective or biased? What is the goal of this source?

Reflect: Once you've summarized and assessed a source, you need to ask how it fits into your research. Was this source helpful to you? How does it help you shape your argument? How can you use this source in your research project? Has it changed how you think about your topic?

Your annotated bibliography may include some of these, all of these, or even other features. If you're doing this for a class, you should get specific guidelines from your instructor!