ENGL 4800: Annotated Bibliography

An annotation is a brief summary or description (usually 100 to 200 words) of a publication (article, book, Web site, movie, etc.). Its purpose is to give the potential reader/viewer/listener an accurate idea of the contents of the publication so that the reader can judge whether the publication is appropriate to the reader’s interests. Note that the reader can be yourself: keeping an annotated list of sources you have consulted can help you later in your research when you are trying to remember what you read where.

Annotations can be descriptive or evaluative:

• descriptive annotation: summarizes the content of the publication, pointing out key topics, significant features, intended audience, etc.
• evaluative annotation: in addition to a description, offers a brief critical assessment of the publication, assessing its relevance, accuracy, reliability, or usefulness for a particular audience or purpose.

In addition to the complete bibliographical information (author, title, publisher and date, etc), an entry in an annotated bibliography should include at least some of the following:

• Author: Authority, experience, or qualifications of the author.
• Purpose: Why did the author write this?
• Scope: Breadth or depth of coverage, topics included, etc.
• Audience: For whom was it written (general public, subject specialists, students…)?
• Viewpoint: What is the author’s perspective or approach (school of thought, etc.)? Do you detect an unacknowledged bias, or find any undefended assumptions?
• Sources: Does the author cite other sources, and if so, what types? Is it based on the author’s own research? Is it personal opinion? …
• Conclusion: What does the author conclude. Is the conclusion justified by the work?
• Features: Any significant extras, e.g. visual aids (charts, maps, etc.), reprints of source documents, an annotated bibliography?
• Comparison: How does it relate to other works on the topic: does it agree or disagree with another author or a particular school of thought; are there other works which would support or dispute it?

Derived from "How to Write an Annotated Bibliography" by Kendall Hobbs from Wesleyan University Library.

Step One: Start with a source. A book, a web page, an article, a newspaper, a film, whatever.
Make sure it is relevant to your topic. Scan books, look at tables of contents, read shorter articles.

Step Two: Correctly cite the source in a bibliographical entry. (Your textbook shows step by step instructions on how to do this, or you may use a citation builder. Make sure it's correct.

Step Three: Write the annotation.

A good annotation contains the following five things:

1) A short (one to two sentence) summary of the source’s contents.

2) A statement which comments on the purpose of the source. 
          Is it intended to influence the reader?
          Is there a specific audience the writer had in mind?
          Is it merely written to be entertaining?

3) A statement which comments on the uniqueness of the source.
          Why did you choose this source?
          Are there pictures, is it well organized?
          How is it different from the other sources available

4) A statement about how the source is helpful or relevant to your topic.
          What do you hope to use from this source?
          And how?

5) Context of the article?
          Who wrote it?
          Where was it published?
          Who is the intended audience?

Derived from R.C. Gallagher