Research Guides: All About College Research: Annotated Bibliographies

All About Annotated Bibliographies

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The Cornell University Library has defined an annotated bibliography as:

a list of citations to books, articles, and documents. Each citation is followed by a brief (usually about 150 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.
—Michael Engle, Olin Library, Cornell University Library

So why do we write annotated bibliographies? According to the Purdue Writing Lab:

To learn about your topic: Writing an annotated bibliography is excellent preparation for a research project. 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. You begin to read more critically instead of just collecting information. 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. To help you formulate a thesis: Every good research paper is an argument. The purpose of research is to state and support a thesis. So, a very important part of research is developing a thesis that is debatable, interesting, and current. Writing an annotated bibliography can help you gain a good perspective on what is being said about your topic. 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.

To help other researchers: Extensive and scholarly annotated bibliographies are sometimes published. They provide a comprehensive overview of everything important that has been and is being said about that topic. 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.

When making an annotated bibliography, you are writing short paragraphs that others may read to get a general idea of what your sources are about. The hardest part is being concise with your information. Annotations take practice—but once you get the hang of it, they're easy. Make sure you know how many sources are required for your bibliography. Once you find them, you're ready to begin! Here are the steps to follow:

Talk about the author. (1 sentence)
Are they a professor? Maybe a professional in the field? Or is this person a hobbyist? Tell the audience about the author in the first part of the annotation.
Explain what the article is about. (1-3 sentences)
Tell the audience what is in the article. This is the most difficult part of the annotation because it requires you to be very succinct. Don’t rewrite the article; just write the base facts and important notes about the article here.
Explain how this article relates to your topic. (1-2 sentences)
What about this article makes it relevant to your topic? Why did you select it? What pertinent bit of information makes this article stand out among the others?
Compare or contrast this work with another you have cited. (1-2 sentences)
How does this specific article relate to another article in your annotated bibliography? Do they agree or not? Why not? What makes them unique?

adapted from a handout written by Aaron Wimer

Here are some awesome additional resources on annotated bibliographies, including example bibliographies and how-tos.

How to Prepare an Annotated Bibliography
Provides explanations about and examples of writing annotated bibliographies. Written by Michael Engle,from Olin Library Reference, Research & Learning Services, Cornell University Library, Ithaca, NY, USA.
Annotated Bibliographies (Purdue Online Writing Lab)
Provides definitions about, reasons for, and formats of annotated bibliographies. Written by Geoff Stacks, Erin Karper, Dana Bisignani, and Allen Brizee from The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue, Purdue University.
Annotated Bibliography Samples
Actual samples of annotated bibliographies (in MLA, APA, and Chicago), with overview and explanation. From The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue, Purdue University.
Annotated Bibliographies (The Writing Center at UNC-Chapel Hill)
"This handout will explain why annotated bibliographies are useful for researchers, provide an explanation of what constitutes an annotation, describe various types of annotations and styles for writing them, and offer multiple examples of annotated bibliographies in the MLA, APA, and CBE/CSE styles of citation." From The Writing Center, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Annotated Bibliography (The University of Wisconsin-Madison)
Links with responses to FAQs about annotated bibliographies. From The Writer's Handbook, The Writing Center @ The University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Preparing an Annotated Bibliography [PDF] (IUPUI)
"This handout is designed to show you how to create an annotated bibliography. Specifically, it will guide you through the process ... by 1. describing in general terms the meaning of the words “annotated bibliography,” 2. explaining in general terms how to write an annotated bibliography, and 3. offering an example of what an annotated bibliography could look like." From School of Liberal Arts and University Writing Center, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.