Understanding the very basics of an Annotated Bibliography

1. Annotated Bibliography

2. WHAT IS IT?
In the past you have created a “Work Cited” page to
list the sources that you have used and mentioned
within your paper.
A “Work Cited” page can also be called a
Bibliography.

3. WHAT IS IT?
Bibliography=Work Cited
So what is an Annotated Bibliography?
Annotation means a summary or evaluation. An
annotated bibliography is a summary/evaluation of
the sources that you are going to use for your paper.

4. WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE?
Notice that the citation
is exactly how you
would write it for your
“Work Cited” page, but
underneath the citation
there is a summary of
the source.

5. WHY DO I NEED THIS?
The summary that is given after the source in the “Annotated
Bibliography” will have three defined focuses to help us fully
assess a source.
1. Summarization
2. Evaluation
3. Reflection
*In a college class, you might or might not be asked to
focus on all of these areas. Just know, that these three
areas are important when considering sources.

6. SUMMARIZATION
1. Summarization
Summarization sounds like a no brainer. However,
it becomes more difficult when you look at longer
and more technical pieces of research.
Summarization will help you identify the main
points without getting lost in the details, and give
you a quick way to remember each source without
going directly to it.

7. EVALUATION
2. Evaluation
When you are evaluating your source, you need to
determine if the information is reliable and useful to your
paper. A source can be about your generalized topic, but
have nothing to offer your paper. A source can also offer a
good viewpoint, through a blog for example, but not be
credible. If you just summarize any source you find, but do
not evaluate it you run the risk of basing your thesis off of
false ideas or off of non-related ideas.

8. REFLECTION
3. Reflection
Reflection is where you determine if the source is helpful
to you, how it is going to help or hurt your argument, and
how you will use the source in your paper. The point of
finding sources is to help prove your thesis statement.
Therefore, you have to consider what point in your paper
your source is going to benefit you the most and if you might
need more sources to fill any holes that you might foresee in
your paper.