Annotated bibliography example

Bibliography that gives a summary of each of the entries

An annotated bibliography is a bibliography that gives a summary of each of the entries.^[1] The purpose of annotations is to provide the reader with a summary and an evaluation of each source.

Each summary should be a concise exposition of the source's central idea(s) and give the reader a general idea of the source's content.^[2][3]

Main components of annotated bibliographies

The following are the main components of an annotated bibliography.

Features of autobiography

Autobiography definition and examples

How to write an autobiography

10 features of an autobiography

Autobiography story

Not all these fields are used; fields may vary depending on the type of annotated bibliography and instructions from the instructor if it is part of a school assignment.

• Full bibliographic citation: the necessary and complete bibliographical information i.e. (author, title, publisher and date, etc.),
• Author's background: the name, authority, experience, or qualifications of the author.
• Purpose of the work: the reasons why the author wrote the work
• Scope of the work: the breadth or depth of coverage and topics or sub-topics covered.
• Main argument: State the main informative points of the paper
• Audience: For whom was it written (general public, subject specialists, student?
• Methodology: What methodology and research methods did the work employ?
• Viewpoint: What is the author's perspective or approach (school of thought, etc.)?

  E.g., an unacknowledged bias, or 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?
• Reliability of the source: How reliable is the work?
• Conclusion: What does the author conclude about the work?
  Autobiography synonyms Sources may include journal articles, news articles, web pages, multimedia, and other source types, depending on your topic and assignment. The last, crucial element to the annotated bibliography is the addition of a properly formatted citation for each source. While annotated bibliography assignments will differ in their individual requirements, these following general guidelines may help you analyze your sources to compose complete and insightful annotations. It cannot be stressed enough that each annotated bibliography assignment may have special rules and guidelines; please review your assignment requirements very carefully or contact your instructor so that you will understand how to complete your annotated bibliography assignment. Discuss the author's or creator's background and qualifications ; such information may be mentioned in your source, or you may have to do a web search using details from the information source as clues as to where to find current, trustworthy information on the author s or creator s.

  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?
• Strengths and Weaknesses: What are the strengths and weaknesses of the work?
• Comparison: How does the source relate to other works done by other writers 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?
• Voice / Personal Conclusion: Provide an opinion of the work or a reaction to the source based on other available works, prior knowledge of the subject matter or knowledge pools done by other researchers.

Types of annotations

Annotations may be written with different goals in mind.

There are three types of annotations, depending on what might be most important for the reader or according to a professor's instructions. It is impossible to describe a standard procedure for all types of annotations because one annotation does not fit all purposes. In order to know the best type of annotation, it is prudent to consult the instructor or follow the instructions.

For example, if an assignment states that an annotative bibliography should give evidence proving an analytical understanding of the sources used, then an analytical annotated bibliography which includes evaluation of the sources should be written. The three types of annotated bibliographies are; summary annotations, critical annotations and a combination of the former two.

Summary annotations

Summary annotations are further classified into informative and indicative annotations.

The following are the main features of summary annotations:

• They show a summary of the source content
• They highlight the arguments and proofs/evidence mentioned in the work
• They sometimes describe the author's methodology and any theories used
• They offer the conclusion of the source
• They do not evaluate the work they are discussing

Informative Annotations

This type of annotation is a summary of the source.

Annotated autobiography definition dictionary examples

When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use. A bibliography is a list of sources books, journals, Web sites, periodicals, etc.

An informative annotation should include the thesis of the work, arguments or hypothesis, proofs and a conclusion.^[4]

Informative annotations provide a straight summary of the source material.

They summarise all relevant information about the author and the main points of the work.

To write an informative annotation, begin by writing the thesis; then develop it with the argument or hypothesis, list the proofs, and state the conclusion

Indicative annotated bibliographies

Indicative annotations do not provide actual information from the source.

They provide overall information about what kinds of questions or issues are addressed by the work, for example, through chapter titles.

In the indicative entry, there is no attempt to give actual data such as hypotheses, proofs, etc.

Autobiography examples

Annotated autobiography definition dictionary pdf

Autobiography sentence examples

Evaluative annotations

This type of annotation assesses the source's strengths and weaknesses, in terms of usefulness and quality.^[4]

Evaluative annotated bibliographies do more than just summarising, they provide critical appraisals.^[5]

They evaluate the source or author critically to find any biases, lack of evidence, objectives, etc.

They show how the work may or may not be useful for a particular field of study or audience.

They explain how researching the material assisted a project.

Combination annotations

Most annotated bibliographies contain combination annotations. This type of annotation will summarize or describe the topic, and then evaluate the source's usefulness and a summary.

Usually also includes a detailed analysis on the reason the article was written.^[4]

Formats of writing annotated bibliographies

Annotated bibliographies contain two main sections; the bibliographic information section and the annotations section.

Since the formats may slightly vary from one institution to another and amongst scholars and researchers depending on the regulations, courses and materials being annotated, it is imperative to ask for specific guidelines.

The bibliographic information

There are also bibliography annotations that combine all three types (MLA, APA and Chicago style).

Autobiography examples: An annotated bibliography is a list of source references that includes a short descriptive text (an annotation) for each source. It may be assigned as part of the research process for a paper, or as an individual assignment to gather and read relevant sources on a topic.

When deciding on the style for an annotated bibliography, one should consider its purpose and the instructions given. Regardless of the formatting style required, all annotated bibliography pieces need to follow the same rule: the author's last name should be the only part that is flush left, while the rest of the text requires to be indented.

The bibliographic information is written before the annotation using the suitable referencing style.

The information is normally identified using a hanging indent.

Generally, though, the bibliographic information of the source (the title, author, publisher, date, etc.) is written in either MLA or APA format.

Annotated autobiography definition dictionary An annotated bibliography is a list of citations to books, articles, and documents. Each citation is followed by a brief usually about 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. Abstracts are the purely descriptive summaries often found at the beginning of scholarly journal articles or in periodical indexes. Annotations are descriptive and critical; they may describe the author's point of view, authority, or clarity and appropriateness of expression.

The annotations

The annotations for each source are written in paragraph form.

The lengths of the annotations can vary significantly from a couple of sentences to a couple of pages.

The length of the annotation should be between and words.

When writing summaries of sources, the annotations may not be very long.

However, when writing an extensive analysis of each source, more space may be needed.

A few sentences of general summary followed by several sentences of how the work fits into a larger paper or project that can be useful when writing a draft.

Writing

Sample entry of an APA style annotated bibliography:

References

External links