What's an Annotated Bibliography?

An annotated bibliography has two distinctive features

1. Citations: list of sources formatted in a particular style (MLA or APA) that identifies what it is, who created it, who published it, where it was published, and when it was written. See also: Why Cite
    
2. Annotations: notes about each citation. There are various types of annotations:

• Descriptive, Indicative: Describes the source
• Informative, Summative: Summarizes content including hypothesis, methodology, main points, results and conclusions
• Critical, Evaluative, Analytical: Critically analyses source content and compares it to other sources

NOTES: Instructor may ask for a combination of Descriptive & Critical OR Informative & Critical.
For your own information... make note of the database (Ex.: Academic Search Premier) or resource (book bibliography) where you find the items you are using.

Why create an annotated bibliography?

• To can keep track of resources as you gather them
• Allows you time to reflect on content as you write the annotations
• Annotations can help you make decisions on which items to use in your paper or presentation.
• With a list of citations with annotations, you can analyze your resources by the numbers and types of citations. For example:
       Do you have items in different formats? Ex: book, journal, newspaper, film, blog, interview...
       Do you have items representing different points of view?
       Do you have items from the popular press and scholarly academic sources?
       Do you have items from different disciplines?
• You can share a list of resources with a committee or a group.
• Peer-review opportunities: Someone else can review sources before you use them.
• You can re-evaluate your resources before using in final paper and/or presentation.
• Consulting annotations as you write provides a bit of distance from the original resource wording, making it easier to phrase ideas in your own words.
• Your final bibliography is virtually done.
• Your final paper and/or presentation should be easier to create.

An annotated bibliography assignment indicates to an instructor that :

• You are headed in the right direction for an assignment.
• You can gather information from various disciplinary points of view.
• You are able to differentiate between scholarly academic and popular press materials.
• You are able to choose appropriate items for your given topic and thesis statement.
• You can critically evaluate materials based on authority.

More information on annotated bibliographies is available at the following sites

• Preparing an Annotated Bibliography University of Maryland Library
• Typical assignment and grading rubrics for Annotated Bibliographies Erika Rux Librarian, Concordia

RefWorks can help you create citations and cite within a paper. RefWorks help pages

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Maintained by Theresa Borchert.  Last update 10-10-11
Send comments or corrections to borchert@cord.edu
Carl B. Ylvisaker Library, Concordia College, Moorhead,Minnesota