Annotated bibliographies are particularly helpful when doing research that requires keeping track of multiple articles and resources, especially if it is over an extended period of time.
The Cornell University Library has defined an annotated bibliography as:
“a list of citations to books, articles, and documents. Each citation is followed by a brief (usually about 150 words) descriptive and evaluative paragraph, the annotation. The purpose of the annotation is to inform the reader of the relevance, accuracy, and quality of the sources cited.” Their annotated bibliography LibGuide may provide you with additional information, if you're inclined to check it out.
In English, this means you are creating a paragraph that others may read to get a general idea of what your sources are about. The hardest part is being concise with your information. Annotations take practice but once you get the hang of it, they are easy.
Purdue Owl also has a section explaining Annotated Bibliographies, why you'd use them, samples and examples that you may find useful.
Here are steps to follow for your annotated bib to make your life a bit easier:
A: Talk about the author. (1 sentence (or combine with part B))
Is this a professor? Maybe this is a professional in the field? Or is this person a hobbyist? Tell the audience about the author in the first part of the annotation.
B: Explain what the article is about. (1-3 sentences)
Tell the audience what is in the article. This is the most difficult part of the annotation because it requires you to be very succinct. Don’t rewrite the article; just write the base facts and important notes about the article here.
C: Explain how this article illuminates your bibliography topic. (1-2 sentences)
What about this article makes it relevant to your topic? Why did you select it? What pertinent bit of information makes this article stand out among the others? This should be more specific than what you wrote in section B.
D: Compare or contrast this work with another you have cited. (1-2 sentences)
How does this specific article relate to another article in your annotated bibliography? Do they agree or not? Why not? What makes them unique?
Here's a sample of what this might look like:
The University of North Colorado evaluated their program via student surveys and realized students could find sources but were not reading them properly, so they changed their library curriculum. This a succinct article that well establishes their goals, how they gathered feedback, and how they used the feedback in real and meaningful ways. Overall their sessions were useful, and the data was sticking, but they found ways to improve their instruction through the assessments. [This covers part A & B]
This article shows that even with instruction there are gaps that needed to be addressed (and possibly still do). Focuses on fixing curriculum based on research, unlike other literature encountered to date. The others theorize and may make suggestions but do not necessarily make any changes. [This covers part C & D for my topic.]
Citation:
McCartin, L. F., Evers, S., & Markowski, B. (2019). Student perceptions of information literacy skills and curriculum before and after completing a research assignment. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 45(3), 262–267. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2019.03.009
Another model that may be useful to you comes from Columbia College in Vancouver. They are also in MLA style so keep that in mind when looking at their citations. Their model is similar to what is described in the previous tabs but is a shorter evaluative summary. We recommend viewing their page and its resources in its entirety.
From the annotations box:
"An annotated bibliography is a list of citations for various books, articles, and other sources on a topic. The annotated bibliography looks like a Works Cited page but includes an annotation after each source cited. An annotation is a short summary and/or critical evaluation of a source. Annotated bibliographies can be part of a larger research project, or can be a stand-alone report in itself.
Types of Annotations
A summary annotation describes the source by answering the following questions: who wrote the document, what the document discusses, when and where was the document written, why was the document produced, and how was it provided to the public. The focus is on description.
An evaluative annotation includes a summary as listed above but also critically assesses the work for accuracy, relevance, and quality. Evaluative annotations can help you learn about your topic, develop a thesis statement, decide if a specific source will be useful for your assignment, and determine if there is enough valid information available to complete your project. The focus is on description and evaluation."
Bibliographic Management Tools help researchers organize and manage their research. They may be able to help you format papers and create footnotes and bibliographies.
There are also many citation building tools available on the web. These tools can be useful but you should always check your citations against the appropriate style guide to be sure the all the information is included and formatted correctly for that style.
More General Citation Creators:
Hit the "i" on the bottom for chapter markings for Literature Reviews, Annotated Bibliographies and Bibliographic Management Tools (managing your citations). Jump to where you need to go!