This document provides instructions for writing an annotated bibliography. It defines an annotated bibliography as a list of sources with brief notes, or annotations, for each that summarize, evaluate, and explain how the source will be used. The document outlines the four parts of each annotation: the MLA citation, a 2-3 sentence summary, a 5 sentence evaluation of the source's credibility, and a 1-2 sentence explanation of how the source will be used. It also provides an example of an annotation for an article on deer-vehicle collisions and daylight saving time. Resources for writing annotated bibliographies are listed at the end.

1. All About Annotated
Bibliographies

2. Hello!
I am Amber Pierdinock
I’ll be your embedded librarian this semester.
Email: pierdinocka@sccsc.edu
2

3. Welcome!
Hi everyone! I know working on an Annotated
Bibliography can be intimidating (especially if
you have never done one before), so I made
these slides to help break them down a little
more!
3

4. What is an Annotated Bibliography?
• An Annotated Bibliography is a list of
sources (a Bibliography) with notes included
(called annotations) that summarize,
evaluate, and explain how you use a source
in your essay.
4

5. Important Note!
• Your AB is a separate assignment from your
paper, so in your essay, you will still have a
Works Cited page.
5

6. Sample Annotated
Bibliography
Your AB should
include 5 sources,
so you will have 1
annotation for each
of your sources.
6

7. 4 Parts to Every Annotation
1. MLA Citation for Source
2. Summary (2-3 sentences) explaining what the
source is about.
3. Evaluation (5 sentences) explaining how you know
this source is credible and why.
4. Your Use (1-2 sentences) explaining how you are
planning to use this source in your essay.
7

8. How Do You Create
Your Annotation?

9. Working Thesis Statement
• Your AB should start with your Working
Thesis statement at the top of your first
page.
• Your Working Thesis is the thesis statement
that you are using for your overall paper.
9

10. Let’s Look at an Example
• Let’s say you were writing a paper for ENG
101 and you found this article: “Another
Problem with Daylight Saving Time: The Time
Change Raises Your Risk of Hitting Deer on
the Road.”
• We will walk through how you would
complete an annotation for this source.
10

11. 1. MLA Citation
• Figure out what kind of source you are citing
(magazine, website, journal, etc.).
• Create the full MLA citation for your source.
• You can get help with your MLA citations by
checking out the SCC MLA Guide:
https://libguides.sccsc.edu/MLA
11

12. Citing Our Article
• The article, “Another Problem with Daylight Saving Time: The Time
Change Raises Your Risk of Hitting Deer on the Road” is an example
of an article written for a database.
• The MLA Citation would be:
Langen, Tom. “Another Problem with Daylight Saving Time: The Time
Changes Raises Your Risk of Hitting Deer on the Road.” Gale
Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection, Gale, 2022. Gale in
Context: Opposing Viewpoints,
link.gale.com/apps/doc/QNUCXU988844906.
12

13. 2. Summary
• The summary is where you will explain to
your reader (in 2-3 sentences) what your
source is going to be about.
13

14. Summary of Our Article
• A summary for our article would look like:
• This article discusses a study completed by the author
and several former students where they analyzed
thousands of deer-vehicle accidents in New York state
across a three-year period. The study found that most
accidents happened at dusk and dawn in the autumn,
when deer are most active and it is difficult to see
them and when daylight savings time has just begun.
14

15. 3. Evaluation
• The evaluation is the longest and biggest
part of your AB.
• This is where you will look at the author,
publisher, date, evidence, and bias of an
article to prove the article’s credibility.
• Remember to write about all elements of a
source in your evaluation.
15

16. Looking Up the Author
• I Googled Tom Langen (the author) and found his
work profile at Clarkson University, where he is a
Biology professor.
• I learned he has a PhD in Biology, he teaches courses
about animal behavior, and one of his research
focuses is the environmental impact on roads.
• Based on this information, he sounds like a credible
author to write about this subject.
16

17. Sample Author Evaluation
• An evaluation of our author would look like:
• The author of this article, Tom Langen, would be a
credible author to write about deer behavior during
Daylight Savings Time because he is a professor of
Biology at Clarkson University and holds a PhD in
Biology from the University of San Diego. Dr. Langen
also teaches many courses about animal behavior and
one of his top research focuses is the environmental
impact of roads.
17

18. Looking Up the Publisher
• Next, I looked up where this article was published,
the Gale Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection.
• I learned this is a library database that publishes
articles about different controversial social issues.
• Since the article was published for Opposing
Viewpoints, this would be a credible publisher since
Gale Opposing Viewpoints is a popular library
database for colleges.
18

19. Sample Publisher Evaluation
• An evaluation of our publisher would look like:
• This article was published in the Gale Opposing
Viewpoints Online Collection, a library database focused
on publishing articles about different controversial
social issues. Gale Opposing Viewpoints is a well-known
academic library database and would be considered a
credible publisher of information about social issues.
19

20. Looking Up the Date
• The article was published in 2022, so it is
very recent.
• This means all the information and statistics
should be up-to-date.
20

21. Sample Date Evaluation
• An evaluation of our date would look like:
• The article was published in 2022, making the
information and statistics in the article very recent and
not outdated.
21

22. Looking Up Evidence
• When we think about evidence, we are looking for
how the author proves their argument in the article.
• Look for a Works Cited, statistics, or other
studies/articles referenced in the article.
• Our example source does not have a Works Cited, but
lists other academic studies plus the author’s original
study.
22

23. Sample Evidence Evaluation
• An evaluation of the article’s evidence would
look like:
• Langen’s article does not include a Works Cited
page, however, he links to various other academic
studies throughout the article. Additionally,
Langen references his own study and the police
accident reports he used to analyze the deer-
related car accidents.
23

24. Looking Up Bias
• Bias is the perspective that an article is
taking in how they present their information.
Is the author only looking at one side of the
argument?
• Bias can be influenced by the author or
publisher (such as where they work or who
published the information).
24

25. Sample Bias Evaluation
• An evaluation of the article’s bias would look like:
• Langen is not affiliated with any organization that
would make him biased toward the subject of deer-
related car accidents. His article solely focuses on
deer-related car accidents in New York state and not
on a national level. However, this article is not biased
because he was drawing his conclusions based on
reviewing police reports of car accidents related to
deer.
25

26. 3. Your Use
• Your Use is where you will explain in 1-2
sentences about how you plan to use this
source in your paper.
26

27. Your Use of the Article
• Your Use of the article would look like:
• I would use this source in my paper to help me
argue why Daylight Savings Time can have
negative and dangerous impacts on a person’s
well-being. I also plan to use this article for the
statistics that were found in the author’s study.
27

28. AB Extra Help Resources
• Annotated Bibliography Guide:
https://libguides.sccsc.edu/AB
• Sample AB:
https://libguides.sccsc.edu/ld.php?content_id=32405910
• AB Extra Help Worksheet:
https://libguides.sccsc.edu/c.php?g=544481&p=3732822
• AB Help Video: https://youtu.be/_6HHZov24vo
28

29. Thanks!
Any questions?
You can find me at pierdinocka@sccsc.edu
29

30. Credits
Special thanks to all the people who made and
released these awesome resources for free:
� Presentation template by SlidesCarnival
� Photographs by Unsplash
30