I.                   What is an annotated bibliography?

It is a list of citations (in a standard format) to sources with brief notes (annotations) explaining (and perhaps evaluating) the quality of each source.

A.     A citation is the precise information needed to locate an item

B.      An annotation tells with brevity what the source contains and its usefulness.

 

II.                Citation Information:

A.     MLA - basically used by the Follett Cataloging System, and therefore useful in compiling bibliographies using its patented 'Bookbag' feature; acceptable here at Bryn Mawr.  (MLA = Modern Language Association)

B.      APS, Chicago Style, Turabian, etc-other standards that are popular in the U.S.

C.      Main idea-provide enough information for another person to find the exact source used and cited by the author.  Elements include author, title, place of publication, publisher, date (for book); author, title, journal title, volume, year (for journal); author, title, publisher and website address and date accessed for Internet site.

III.             Sources may be found in many formats:

A.     Books (including reference books)

B.      Magazines, a.k.a. journals, periodicals, newspapers

C.      Internet sites (freebies)

D.     Electronic databases (not freebies, usually require passwords)

E.      Audiovisual materials

F.       Maps

G.      Miscellaneous, i.e. pamphlets, reports, transcripts of court proceedings, interview transcripts, transcribed phone conversations, etc.

 

IV.               Sources for library research may be found in

A.     Library catalog 

B.      Electronic databases

C.      Periodical indexes

D.     Internet

E.      Lists of Readings, Bibliographies, Notes from sources already found

 

V.                  Written Annotations:

A.     Purpose (who was this source written for?)

B.      Form (book, article, cassette tape, etc.)

C.      Arrangement (organization of the material-is there a table of contents, an index, and list of chapters, bibliographic notes, a bibliography or list of sources?)

D.     Are the author(s) or editor(s) or publisher(s) authorities in their fields?  Can you tell?

E.      Currency-how up-to-date is the material?  (Be careful here-some books retain value for a long time, and a book copyrighted in 2002 may be much less useful and well-written than one written in 1980)

 

VI.              Writing Style for Annotations:

A.     Brevity is the soul of the good annotation

B.      Pithy (meaningful) it should be too, as Yoda might say

C.      When in doubt, use full sentences.  Phrases are also acceptable if specified by teacher.

Last updated: March 2007