2 pages

Annotated Bibliography

Directions: Along with your research essay, you will be required to turn in two annotated bibliographies. I know it seems like an extra task, but this assignment will help you to make sure that your essay is cohesively organized around a focused topic.

A bibliography is a list of sources (books, journals, websites, periodicals, etc.) one has used for researching a topic. Bibliographies are sometimes called "references" or "works cited" depending on the style format you are using. A bibliography usually just includes the bibliographic information (i.e., the author, title, publisher, etc.).

An annotation is a summary and/or evaluation.

Therefore, an annotated bibliography includes a summary and/or evaluation of each of the sources. The entries are in alphabetical order.

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? The length of your annotations will determine how detailed your summary is.

Why should I write an annotated bibliography?

To learn about your topic: Writing an annotated bibliography is excellent preparation for a research project. Just collecting sources for a bibliography is useful, but when you have to write annotations for each source, you're forced to read each source more carefully. You begin to read more critically instead of just collecting information. At the professional level, annotated bibliographies allow you to see what has been done in the literature and where your own research or scholarship can fit.

To help you formulate a thesis: Every good research paper is an argument. The purpose of research is to state and support a thesis. So a very important part of research is developing a thesis that is debatable, interesting, and current. Writing an annotated bibliography can help you gain a good perspective on what is being said about your topic. By reading and responding to a variety of sources on a topic, you'll start to see what the issues are, what people are arguing about, and you'll then be able to develop your own point of view.

To help other researchers: Extensive and scholarly annotated bibliographies are sometimes published. They provide a comprehensive overview of everything important that has been and is being said about that topic. You may not ever get your annotated bibliography published, but as a researcher, you might want to look for one that has been published about your topic.

Format: An annotated bibliography is formatted in the same way as a regular works cited page with the addition of annotations. Annotations should be around 3 sentences. Also, all entries must be in alphabetical order by author’s last name.

Example: This is an example taken from our textbook, Rereading America: Cultural Contexts for Critical Thinking and Writing. Regard all readings from the textbook as “work in an anthology.”

Soto, Gary. “Looking For Work.” Rereading America: Cultural Contexts for Critical Thinking and Writing. Ed. Gary Columbo, Robert Cullen, Bonnie Leslie. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2010. 27 – 31.

In this short story, Gary Soto recalls his childhood obsession with TV sitcoms such as “Father Knows Best.” He details how he always wanted his family to be like television families: polite, well mannered, and affluent. However, as he looks back he realizes that his childhood was actually idyllic as his mother provided him with the freedom to be himself.