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    OWL Online Writing Lab

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    OWL Online Writing Lab

    Annotated Bibliographies

    DEFINITIONS

    A bibliography is a list of sources (books, journals, Web sites, 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. Each annotation should be around 200
    words.

    Format:

    Depending on your project or the assignment, your annotations may do one or more of the
    following.

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

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

    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.

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