Annotated Bibliographies

What is an annotated Bibliography? An annotated bibliography is a list of citations to resources (books, articles, etc.) used by a scholar in some type of research paper or project. The resource must be cited in a specific format unique to the area of study (i.e. MLA, APA, Chicago/Turabian, etc.) Each citation is followed by a short paragraph of three to six sentences (roughly 150 words in length) that summarizes, and possibly evaluates, the value of that resource.

Different types of annotations Summarizing/Informative Annotations: This basic form of annotation is a summary of the source. Some useful questions to ask when summarizing a 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?

There are two parts to an annotated bibliography: The bibliographic citation of the resource. Book: Author, title, publisher, place of publication, and date of publication. Journal Article: Author, title of the article, title of the periodical in which the article is published, date, volume/issue numbers and page number(s). An annotation describing the features, and possibly evaluating the relevance, of that resource.

Resources for Writing Annotated Bibliographies How to Prepare an Annotated Bibliography (Cornell University) http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/research/skill28.htm *See also: Critically Analyzing Information Sources (Cornell) http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/research/skill26.htm How to...Write an Annotated Bibliography (U. of California, Santa Cruz) http://library.ucsc.edu/ref/howto/annotated.html Annotated Bibliographies: Online Writing Lab (Purdue University) http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/general/gl_annotatedbib.html Annotated Bibliographies: The Writing Center (Writer's Handbook at the University of Wisconsin-Madison) http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/AnnotatedBibliography.html Writing an Annotated Bibliography (University of Toronto) http://www.utoronto.ca/writing/annotatebib.html