An annotated bibliography is a list of citations to books, articles, and documents that includes a brief descriptive and evaluative paragraph for each citation. The purpose of the annotation is to inform the reader of the relevance, accuracy, and quality of the sources cited.
Purdue University's Online Writing Lab (OWL) is a comprehensive resource for students, teachers, and professionals alike to learn about writing, grammar, and research. The OWL offers a wealth of information on how to create an annotated bibliography, including what to include in the annotation, how to format the bibliography, and examples of annotated bibliographies in various styles.
To create an annotated bibliography, the first step is to gather the necessary information for each source. This includes the author's name, the title of the work, the publication information, and the page numbers. Next, you will need to read and evaluate the source. Consider the following questions:
What is the main argument or purpose of the work?
How does it contribute to your research or understanding of the topic?
Is the information reliable and well-researched?
Once you have evaluated the source, you can begin writing the annotation. The Purdue OWL recommends including the following elements in the annotation:
A summary of the main points or arguments of the work
An evaluation of the strength or relevance of the work to your research
Any insights or observations you have gained from the work
It is important to keep the annotation concise, typically around 100-200 words. The Purdue OWL provides examples of annotated bibliographies in various citation styles, such as APA, MLA, and Chicago. These examples can serve as a guide for formatting and organizing your own annotated bibliography.
In conclusion, the Purdue OWL is a valuable resource for creating an annotated bibliography. It provides clear guidelines on what to include in the annotation and how to format the bibliography, as well as examples in various citation styles. By using this resource, you can create a well-organized and informative annotated bibliography that will help you and your readers better understand and evaluate the sources you have used in your research.
Purdue OWL: Annotated Bibliographies
The Human Embryonic Stem Cell Debate: Science, Ethics, and Public Policy. Findings: Students scored highest on the quality of sources used in both assignments, although there was a statistically significant decline in overall scores from the first assignment to the second. Is the information reliable? Writing an annotated bibliography can help you gain a good perspective on what is being said about your topic. Contemporary undergraduates in the biological sciences have unprecedented access to scientific information. For example, this source is a very short scholarly article. The length of your annotations will determine how detailed your summary is. To help other researchers : Extensive and scholarly annotated bibliographies are sometimes published.
The lengths of the annotations can vary significantly from a couple of sentences to a couple of pages. Using a variety of sources can help give you a broader picture of what is being said about your topic. Although many of these students may be savvy technologists, studies from the field of library and information science consistently show that undergraduates often struggle to locate, evaluate, and use high-quality, reputable sources of information. How does it compare with other sources in your bibliography? Does it seem like a reliable and current source? Depending on your project or the assignment, your annotations may do one or more of the following. What topics are covered? How does it help you shape your argument? Students primarily cited journal articles in their annotated bibliographies and reference sources in their final bibliographies. Is this a helpful resource? Along with pedagogical decisions based on time limitations, librarians also need to decide on assessment methods, given the importance of such data. The annotations: The annotations for each source are written in paragraph form.
The bibliographic information : Generally, though, the bibliographic information of the source the title, author, publisher, date, etc. Not all annotated bibliographies assess and reflect; some merely summarize. Who is the author? Is she qualified in this subject? Website use increased notably from one assignment to the other. What is the goal of this source? The format of an annotated bibliography can vary, so if you're doing one for a class, it's important to ask for specific guidelines. . You may want to investigate how scholarly sources are treating this topic differently than more popular sources. Why should I write an annotated bibliography? If you are writing an annotated bibliography with many sources, it may be helpful to divide the sources into categories.
Introduction For many students, the required first-year English composition course is often the site where they encounter and grapple with academic library research for the first time. Librarians have responded to this increased pressure in academia to demonstrate a tangible impact on student learning and success by devoting increased resources to investigating best practices for assessing curriculum-based instruction at the undergraduate level. A few sentences of general summary followed by several sentences of how you can fit the work into your larger paper or project can serve you well when you go to draft. This study demonstrates the efficacy and pedagogical value of a collaborative teaching approach designed to enhance information literacy competencies among undergraduate biology majors who must write a formal scientific research paper. A bibliography usually just includes the bibliographic information i. Is it a useful source? What are the main arguments? You can focus your annotations for your own needs. After a brief summary, it would be appropriate to assess this source and offer some criticisms of it.
Students had the most difficulty with writing annotations, followed closely by citation accuracy. For more examples, a quick search at a library or even on the Internet should produce several examples of annotated bibliographies in your area. Depending on your project or the assignment, your annotations may do one or more of the following. Note also that the entries are alphabetized by the first word in the bibliographic entry. How do I format an annotated bibliography? Is the information reliable? Is it a useful source? If you're doing this for a class, you should get specific guidelines from your instructor. They provide a comprehensive overview of everything important that has been and is being said about that topic.
Is this source biased or objective? 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. How can you use this source in your research project? The length will depend on the purpose. To learn about your topic : Writing an annotated bibliography is excellent preparation for a research project. Your annotated bibliography may include some of these, all of these, or even others. How does it fit into your research? Each assignment was scored on a three-point scale, and four criteria were assessed: the quality of sources used, variety of sources used, quality of annotations for first assignment only , and citation accuracy. Boston: MIT Press, 2001.
Has it changed how you think about your topic? You begin to read more critically instead of just collecting information. It may only take a sentence or two to summarize. For example, if putting together an extensive annotated bibliography for stem cell research, it might be best to divide the sources into categories such as ethical concerns, scholarly analyses, and political ramifications. The bibliographic information above is proper MLA format use whatever style is appropriate in your field and the annotations are in paragraph form. What are the main arguments? The purpose of research is to state and support a thesis. How does it compare with other sources in your bibliography? It is of interest to librarians teaching one-shot library instruction or any librarian interested in assessing the research skills of first-year students.
After enhancing library-based instruction, adding an annotated bibliography requirement, and using multiple assessment techniques, we show fundamental improvements in students' library research abilities. After summarizing and assessing, you can now reflect on this source. Is this source scholarly, popular, some of both? Was this source helpful to you? 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. To help you formulate a thesis: Every good research paper is an argument. Annotated Bibliography A bibliography is a list of sources books, journals, Websites, periodicals, etc. We rely on the triangulation of assessment data to determine the effectiveness of a substantial research paper project completed by students enrolled in an upper-level biology course. Is this source biased or.
If one were really writing an annotation for this source, one would offer a brief summary of what this book says about stem cell research. Bibliographies are sometimes called "References" or "Works Cited" depending on the style format you are using. This is the annotation of the above source, which is formatted according to MLA 2009 7 th ed. 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. Even if you are using a book, you should only focus on the sections that relate to your topic.
That may not be the most helpful for you, but, if this is an assignment, you should always ask your instructor for specific guidelines. Are the facts well documented? Librarians generally teach one or two information literacy sessions for these courses, aimed to ease students into the complexities of effectively finding " appropriate " sources. So a very important part of research is developing a thesis that is debatable, interesting, and current. What topics are covered? If you're just writing summaries of your sources, the annotations may not be very long. However, if you are writing an extensive analysis of each source, you'll need more space. What is the point of this book or article? But again, if your assignment is to only use scholarly sources, then you will probably want to avoid magazines and popular web sites. 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.
