How to Write an Annotated Bibliography

What is an annotated bibliography? An annotated bibliography is a list of source that person has used to learn about a topic. This list includes four important elements: Bibliographic information about the source. This information includes but is not limited to the name the author, the type of source, and the title of the book or article. A summary of the text. This summary should meet the criteria set out by the summary rubric that we have been using all year. It should contextualize the text. This means that the annotation should explain how this source handles the topic compared with other texts on the same topic. It should evaluate the text. The annotation should explain to the reader how useful the text was, what topics it did a good job addressing and where more information was needed.

How long should each annotation be? Each annotation should be about two sizeable paragraphs in length. The first paragraph should be the summary of the text and the second paragraph contextualize and evaluate the text. You will not be able to write the second paragraph of your annotations until you have read at least three sources on your topic.

What should an annotated bibliography look like? Each source needs to have its own entry and the each entry should follow the below format. Bibliographic information about the text. Summary of the text. Contextualization and evaluation of the text.