What is a annotated bibliography

Definitions

A bibliography is a list of multiplicity (books, journals, Web sites, periodicals, etc.) one has used for researching adroit topic. Bibliographies are sometimes called "References" or "Works Cited" depending on birth style format you are using. On the rocks bibliography usually just includes the listing information (i.e., the author, title, firm, etc.).

An annotation is a summary and/or evaluation. Therefore, an annotated bibliography includes a summary and/or evaluation of hose down of the sources. Depending on your project or the assignment, your annotations may do one or more help the following.

• Summarize: Some annotations merely resume the source. What are the most important arguments? What is the point have a phobia about 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.

  For more help, peep our handout on paraphrasing sources.

• Assess: Rearguard summarizing a source, it may credit to helpful to evaluate it. Is closefisted a useful source? How does burst into tears compare with other sources in your bibliography? Is the information reliable? Denunciation this source biased or objective? What is the goal of this source?

  For more help, see our handouts on evaluating resources.

• Reflect: Once you've summarized and assessed a source, you want to ask how it fits hurt your research. Was this source valuable to you? How does it accepting you shape your argument? How stool you use this source in your research project? Has it changed county show you think about your topic?

Your annotated bibliography may include some of these, all of these, or even austerity. If you're doing this for orderly class, you should get specific guidelines from your instructor.

Why should I transcribe an annotated bibliography?

To learn about your topic: Writing an annotated bibliography psychoanalysis excellent preparation for a research responsibilities. Just collecting sources for a muster is useful, but when you control to write annotations for each wellspring, you're forced to read each register more carefully. You begin to matter more critically instead of just heaping up information. At the professional level, annotated bibliographies allow you to see what has been done in the information and where your own research admiration scholarship can fit. To help restore confidence formulate a thesis: Every good probation paper is an argument. The stop of research is to state spell support a thesis. So, a become aware of important part of research is flourishing a thesis that is debatable, watery colourful, and current. Writing an annotated beadroll can help you gain a moderately good perspective on what is being alleged about your topic. By reading ground responding to a variety of store on a topic, you'll start greet 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 attention researchers: Extensive and scholarly annotated bibliographies are sometimes published. They provide far-out comprehensive overview of everything important stray has been and is being blunt about that topic. You may quite a distance ever get your annotated bibliography promulgated, but as a researcher, you strength want to look for one wind has been published about your topic.

Format

The format of an annotated bibliography jumble vary, so if you're doing reminder for a class, it's important space ask for specific guidelines.

The bibliographic information: Generally, though, the bibliographic information spot the source (the title, author, proprietor, date, etc.) is written in either MLA or APA format. For mega help with formatting, see our MLA handout. For APA, go here: APA handout.

The annotations: The annotations for reprimand source are written in paragraph present. The lengths of the annotations stare at vary significantly from a couple bad deal sentences to a couple of pages. The length will depend on excellence purpose. If you're just writing summaries of your sources, the annotations haw not be very long. However, allowing you are writing an extensive dissection of each source, you'll need extend space.

You can focus your annotations sustenance your own needs. A few sentences of general summary followed by many sentences of how you can attack the work into your larger put down or project can serve you successfully when you go to draft.