Annotated Bibliography

What Is An Annotated Bibliography?

An annotated bibliography is a list of citations to books, articles, and documents. Each citation is followed by a brief paragraph called the “annotation.” The purpose of the annotation is to inform the reader of the relevance, accuracy, and quality of the sources cited.

There are two types of annotated bibliographies. The "descriptive" annotated bibliography summarizes a source, describes why it is useful for researching a particular topic or question, and describes the author's main arguments and conclusions. The "analytical" annotated bibliography includes the same elements, but it also analyzes what is written or argued. It critically examines the strengths and weaknesses of the author's argument and conclusions.

This assignment will require you to research and write an analytical annotated bibliography. You cannot use sources that are in our course materials - you must seek outside references. Your annotated bibliography will include bibliographic entries AND a narrative explanation of the source and how it will be used to answer your research question. Wikipedia, About.com, History.com, Ask.com and any online sources that do not contain source citations and author information are not allowed as sources for this assignment. These are sites for the general population and not considered appropriate for college-level work. Do not use them.

Assignment Instructions

For this assignment, you will do a search of UMUC's databases for five (5) articles in scholarly (peer-reviewed) journals on your chosen topic. These are not found in encyclopedias. They are peer reviewed journals. Do not use the encyclopedias in the library.

Each annotation should be between 250-300 words each. For help with this you should review this source from the UMUC Writing Center:  http://www.umuc.edu/current-students/learning-resources/writing-center/writing-resources/evaluating-sources.cfm . You can also utilize the "Chat with a Librarian" feature. In the top menu under "Resources" click on "Library" and you should see the "Chat with a Librarian" feature on the right.

Select a topic that will form the basis for your Annotated Bibliography and Annotated Webliography (your Annotated Webliography is due in Week 7). You should choose some topic that deals with some aspect of the History of Applied Science & Technology to 1500. This covers a broad area so you can use your imagination. For example, you could cover Egyptian Agriculture, medieval weaponry, or Roman aqueducts to name a few. If you are unsure whether your topic is acceptable, you should run it by your instructor for approval.  

Provide a complete citation for the site, including the URL and your date of access. Note that the required citation style is Chicago Manual of Style. For an example of what elements to include in your citation, go to Course Content and review the Brief Primer to Citing Sources in Chicago Humanities Style (B=bibliography). In the Sample Citations section, look under Online Journal Articles and note that you need to provide the name of the database you found the article in and your date of access.

Analytical Annotated Bibliography Components:

1. Begin each annotated bibliography entry by identifying the source in correct Chicago Manual of Style documentation. Do not use citation generators for Chicago. Virtually all of them place the year incorrectly. Instead use the Chicago Manual of Style Online Guide or the UMGC Library's Chicago Citation Examples page.  https://sites.umgc.edu/library/libhow/chicago_examples.cfm#bibliography

2. A brief description of the author's topic, thesis, and methodology. In other words, in what academic discipline does the work fall in (history, literature, social science, women's studies, cultural studies, etc.)? What kind of evidence does the author draw upon?

3. A concise outline of the main points in the text.

4. A statement about the author’s goals and his/her intended audience. Are there any clear biases?

5. MOST IMPORTANTLY--Your critical evaluation of the text’s usefulness for the investigation of your topic. What are the strengths of the source? What are the deficiencies or limitations of the source?

6. Did the article help you to further understand the topic? If so, explain how. If not, explain what information might have been helpful.

7. Explain how each of your sources compares to the others. Are there any general trends you see in your selected books and articles?

There are numerous websites that will show you how to construct an annotated bibliography. UMUC also has a guide to writing an annotated bibliography (requires Flash Player to view the video)  http://www.umuc.edu/library/libhow/bibliography_tutorial.cfm .

If your article has an abstract DO NOT CUT AND PASTE IT AND SUBMIT IT. That is plagiarism and will result in an investigation of your paper for a possible violation of the university’s academic integrity policy. Read the article and do your own summary.