what is a descriptive annotated bibliography

Annotated Bibliographies: A Step by Step Guide

Annotated bibliographies.

An annotated bibliography is a helpful research tool that identifies and critiques useful resources for a specific subject. It includes a short commentary for each book, article, website, and so forth that it lists. The commentary can be descriptive, that is, it can simply describe the resource. Or the commentary can be evaluative, that is, it can tell about the resource's point of view, strengths and weaknesses, and what kind of research it would be useful for. Often, it is both! Annotated bibliographies answer the question: "What would be the most relevant, most useful, or most up-to-date sources for this topic?" You can see how they are of value to others. And, as an assignment, they get you to engage in the work of scholarship, using your knowledge, research, and critical thinking skills.

PierceLibraryLogo

Annotated Bibliographies

Annotated Bibliography How To Sites

Schedule a Research Appointment

Circulation Desk

6201 Winnetka Ave. Woodland Hills, CA 91371

email [email protected]

What IS an annotated bibliography?

Picture of a large stack of books

A BIBLIOGRAPHY is a list of citations (which generally include the author's name, the title of the work, the place of publication, etc.) to the articles, books, websites, and other sources you used in researching your paper. A bibliography is also sometimes referred to as a works cited page or a References list. Different style guides have different names for bibliographies, and different formats for the citations they include, so be sure to check our Citing your Sources page for more information on how your specific manual formats its references.

Why do we write bibliographies?

An ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY adds a short paragraph describing and analyzing the source after its citation. These annotations help your reader understand the pros and cons of a specific book or article, and enable them to see how this source fits amongst other works on the same topic. There are two common types of annotated bibliographies: DESCRIPTIVE and CRITICAL . Each is discussed in its own page of this guide. If you are not sure which type of annotation your professor is looking for, be sure to ask!

This guide will teach you all about annotations and how you can construct a great annotated bibliography.

Use the tabs on the left to navigate through the different parts of this guide.

ERAU Hunt Library

Annotated Bibliography

Descriptive/Informative Annotation

A descriptive or informative annotated bibliography describes or summarizes the source, without evaluation. This description can include:

Coulam, R. F. (1977). Illusions of choice: The F-111 and the problem of weapons acquisition reform. Princeton University Press.

A pivotal study of the controversial Tactical Fighter Experiment (TFX) program (later called the F-111), an early effort of the 1960s to produce a multipurpose fighter that would be used by both the Air Force and Navy. Beset by numerous development problems, the program was eventually abandoned by the Navy; the Air Force decided to continue, but the difficulties persisted. Coulam's title aptly points up the fact that as aircraft development proceeds, a point of no return is reached, at which choices become minimal. Given the complex and ingrained nature of the weapons acquisitions process, prospects for reform, Coulam says, are doubtful unless the institutions involved in the process are changed.

Note: When writing your citation, make sure it is a hanging indent where the second line is indented and matches up with the annotation. Source: Pisano, D. A., Hardesty, V.D., & Fishbein, S. J. (1988). Aviation industry. In Pisano, D. A. & Lewis, C. S. (Eds.). Air and space history: An annotated bibliography (pp.285-286). Garland Pub.

Coulam, Robert F. Illusions of Choice: The F-111 and the Problem of Weapons Acquisition Reform . Princeton University Press, 1977.

Note: When writing your citation, make sure it is a hanging indent where the second line is indented and matches up with the annotation. Source: Pisano, Dominick A., Hardesty, Von D., & Fishbein, Samuel J. "Aviation Industry." Air and space history: An annotated bibliography , edited by Dominick A. Pisano and Cathleen S. Lewis, Garland Pub, 1988, pp.285-286.

Ask a Librarian

How to Write an Annotated Bibliography - APA Style (7th Edition)

What is an annotation, how is an annotation different from an abstract, what is an annotated bibliography, types of annotated bibliographies, descriptive or informative, analytical or critical, to get started.

An annotation is more than just a brief summary of an article, book, web site, or other type of publication. An annotation should give enough information to make a reader decide whether to read the complete work. In other words, if the reader were exploring the same topic as you, is this material useful and if so, why?

While an abstract also summarizes an article, book, web site, or other type of publication, it is purely descriptive. Although annotations can be descriptive, they also include distinctive features about an item. Annotations can be evaluative and critical as we will see when we look at the two major types of annotations.

An annotated bibliography is an organized list of sources (like a reference list). It differs from a straightforward bibliography in that each reference is followed by a paragraph length annotation, usually 100–200 words in length.

Depending on the assignment, an annotated bibliography might have different purposes:

There are two major types of annotated bibliographies:

A descriptive or informative annotated bibliography describes or summarizes a source as does an abstract; it describes why the source is useful for researching a particular topic or question and its distinctive features. In addition, it describes the author's main arguments and conclusions without evaluating what the author says or concludes.

McKinnon, A. (2019). Lessons learned in year one of business. Journal of Legal Nurse Consulting , 30 (4), 26–28. This article describes some of the difficulties many nurses experience when transitioning from nursing to a legal nurse consulting business. Pointing out issues of work-life balance, as well as the differences of working for someone else versus working for yourself, the author offers their personal experience as a learning tool. The process of becoming an entrepreneur is not often discussed in relation to nursing, and rarely delves into only the first year of starting a new business. Time management, maintaining an existing job, decision-making, and knowing yourself in order to market yourself are discussed with some detail. The author goes on to describe how important both the nursing professional community will be to a new business, and the importance of mentorship as both the mentee and mentor in individual success that can be found through professional connections. The article’s focus on practical advice for nurses seeking to start their own business does not detract from the advice about universal struggles of entrepreneurship makes this an article of interest to a wide-ranging audience.

An analytical or critical annotation not only summarizes the material, it analyzes what is being said. It examines the strengths and weaknesses of what is presented as well as describing the applicability of the author's conclusions to the research being conducted.

Analytical or critical annotations will most likely be required when writing for a college-level course.

McKinnon, A. (2019). Lessons learned in year one of business. Journal of Legal Nurse Consulting , 30 (4), 26–28. This article describes some of the difficulty many nurses experience when transitioning from nursing to a nurse consulting business. While the article focuses on issues of work-life balance, the differences of working for someone else versus working for yourself, marketing, and other business issues the author’s offer of only their personal experience is brief with few or no alternative solutions provided. There is no mention throughout the article of making use of other research about starting a new business and being successful. While relying on the anecdotal advice for their list of issues, the author does reference other business resources such as the Small Business Administration to help with business planning and professional organizations that can help with mentorships. The article is a good resource for those wanting to start their own legal nurse consulting business, a good first advice article even. However, entrepreneurs should also use more business research studies focused on starting a new business, with strategies against known or expected pitfalls and issues new businesses face, and for help on topics the author did not touch in this abbreviated list of lessons learned.

Now you are ready to begin writing your own annotated bibliography.

Annotated bibliographies may be arranged alphabetically or chronologically, check with your instructor to see what he or she prefers.

Please see the APA Examples page for more information on citing in APA style.

E-Mail Us | 240-684-2020 855-655-8682, opt. 7, x22020

E-Mail Us | 240-684-2020 ( Hours )

What is 24/7 Library Chat?

Have a comment?

Annotated Bibliographies

Welcome to the North Island College Annotated Bibliographies Guide!

Navigate through the tabs to the left to access definitions, formatting, and examples .

Library Contact & Hours | Privacy

Annotated Bibliography Examples & Step-by-Step Writing Guide

An annotated bibliography is a unique form of bibliography providing a short summary or analysis of sources. While creating an annotated bibliography shouldn’t be stressful, many students might find the process hard. Keep it simple by using this step-by-step annotated bibliography guide for perfect annotations in any style.

Table of Contents

Annotated Bibliography Examples

What Is an Annotated Bibliography?

So, the big question in everyone’s minds is, what is an annotated bibliography? An annotated bibliography is a list of citations followed by a brief summary or analysis of your sources, aka annotations. The annotation gives information about the relevance and quality of the sources you cited through a 150-250 word description or interpretation of the source.

Why Write Annotations?

One of the main questions students have is what the purpose of an annotation is. Surprise, it’s not just for your teacher. Annotations help you, too. Many times, you create your reference list as you begin researching your topic. Since you summarize the source in an annotated bibliography, you start to delve into the topic more critically to collect the information for your annotations. This helps you better understand the subject and sources to help you create your thesis .

How to Write an Annotated Bibliography Step-by-Step

The creation of an annotated bibliography is a three-step process. It starts with evaluating sources to find the ones that will genuinely make your paper shine. You’ll then begin writing your annotation for each different source. The final step is to choose your citation style. Now that you know the three-step process, let’s check out each step in turn.

Step 1: Analysis of Sources

When it comes to an annotated bibliography, you have to critically look at your topic’s sources and research. Therefore, you need to look at the author’s qualifications and credentials, along with the date of the study itself. Since new thoughts and literary movements are happening all the time, you want to make sure the analysis and opinions you use are relevant to your topic and current times.

In addition to the author, make sure the publisher or journal where you found the research is distinguished and reviewed by professionals in the field. Research by an unknown or unreputable journal will not make a good source for your arguments or analysis. Other areas you’ll want to be aware of include:

Critically analyzing all these different areas helps you evaluate if a source is credible , helpful to your project or research, and works to answer your thesis.

reliable sources for research CRAAP

Step 2: Create Your Annotations

Now that you’ve used your critical academic eye to dive deep into your sources, it’s time to create annotations for them. Annotations aren’t one size fits all. Therefore, there are different ways you can create them, depending on your intent. You might choose to use descriptive, summary, or evaluation in your annotations or a combination of all three. Just remember to always include what your instructor asks for.

Indicative/Descriptive Annotations

Descriptive or indicative annotations do just what they say. They describe the source. Indicative annotations give you a quick summary of the source and argument and describe the main points and even chapters within the source. See how this indicative annotation example in MLA works.

Zachs, Mitch. The Little Book of Stock Market Profits . John Wiley & Sons, 2011.

This book covers a wide variety of strategies used in the stock market throughout the years to improve performance. Insightful chapters within the text include “Understanding the Markets,” “Using Profits to Achieve Your Elusive Goals,” and “The Challenge of Investing.”

Informative/Summary Annotations

Summary annotations simply provide a summary of your different sources. Within them, you describe the main arguments or points along with the various topics covered. This is where you show why this source was essential and made it to your list. See an example of informative annotations at play.

Doerr, John. Measure What Matters: How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation Rock the World With OKRs . Penguin. 2018.

This book is written by Doerr, who is the chair of a venture capitalist group. The book describes how a business organization can use OKRs to drive a company’s focus through agility, which leads to explosive growth. These are first-person, behind-the-scenes case studies narrated by leaders like Bill Gates. This book helps guide understanding of the business management strategies that drive the success of large companies.

Evaluation Annotations

Your annotations might stop at summarizing, or you could take it a step further by evaluating the source. To do this, you want to compare and contrast it. Why did this one make the cut? Explain the overarching goal of the source and why it fits into your paper so well. Additionally, you want to look at the reliability of the information and any bias it might have. Dig deep into your source like in this example.

Wilson, John Philip. When the Texans Come: Missing Records from the Civil War in the Southwest. UNM Press, 2001.

Through primary resources like original letters, song lyrics, and casualty lists, the author, a historian-archeologist, provides a fresh narrative of the Civil War. The author dissects primary sources like witness testimony and original newspaper accounts to clearly understand the battles fought within the Civil War. It not only takes you through the major battles but the minor ones happening in the west to provide you a clear picture of the war. While it’s interesting to see the war through fresh eyes, it lacks in some areas due to its overarching look at the entirety of the war.

Combination Annotations

Annotations don’t have to just follow one specific format. You can combine all three types of annotations into your annotated bibliography. For example, you might spend a few lines describing and summarizing the work and end with an evaluation.

annotated bibliography in MLA

Writing Style for Annotations

Just like there are different types of annotations you can create, you can also use different writing styles. Annotations typically follow three specific formats depending on how long they are.

Step 3: Annotated Bibliography Format

All annotated bibliographies have a title, annotation, and citation. While the annotation is the same for all, the way you create your title and citation varies based on your style. The three main bibliography styles used include MLA, APA, and Chicago.

Get examples of an annotated bibliography in each different style. Find a quick overview of when to use APA, MLA, and Chicago styles.

APA Example

An APA annotated bibliography is used for science and technical papers. It includes an APA citation and APA formatting for headers and title.

example annotated bibliography APA

MLA Example

An MLA annotated bibliography is the go-to style of high school and college students for language arts and humanities papers. This style uses MLA style citations and formatting like the surname and page number header.

example annotated bibliography MLA

Chicago Example

Chicago style annotated bibliographies are a catch-all type of style with author-date and notes-bibliography citations. The citation used in Chicago style can vary by style, but the annotation remains the same.

example annotated bibliography chicago format

How to Use an Annotated Bibliography Generator

When it comes to creating your annotated bibliography, you can use the annotated bibliography generator at Bibliography.com to make things easier. Get a step-by-step overview on how to create an annotated bibliography using Bibliography.com.

annotated bibliography bibliography.com

Creating your annotated bibliography through Bibliography.com’s annotation generator is as simple as that.

Difference Between Abstract, Annotation, and Literature Review

The difference between an abstract, literature review, and annotated bibliography can get a bit fuzzy, especially if you are new to the academic writing game. You know an annotation is a brief synopsis of your source. Explore how that differs from an abstract and a literature review.

What Is a Literature Review?

Like an annotated bibliography, literature reviews can be full papers, in their own right, or they can be incorporated into a school paper. Their purpose is to review and tie together previously published research to bolster a writer’s own thesis. The literature review also suggests ways to move the research forward or identifies gaps in the existing literature. Preparing a literature review helps students learn how to find and critically evaluate sources.

Purpose of an Abstract

The difference between an abstract and an annotated bibliography is abstracts are included as part of research papers. Their purpose is to inform an interested researcher about the topic, problem, methodology, findings, and conclusion of the research. This abstract helps students understand whether this source is a good one for their own school paper.

An abstract is written as a summary rather than to serve an evaluative purpose. No added material, such as explanations or further reading, are included in abstracts—usually, an abstract runs between 150 to 250 words. If you’re using APA style to format your research paper, you may need to include an abstract on the page following the title page.

Now that you know the difference between an abstract, annotated bibliography, and literature review, you have all the skills needed to create a perfect annotated bibliography.

Citation generator

Creating an Annotated Bibliography

Creating an annotated bibliography takes more work, but it can make you a better researcher. Just follow the steps for creating annotations and citations per your professor, and you’re ready for that A. Interested in learning more about research papers? Why not check out how to insert citations in Word quickly .

FAQ Annotated Bibliography Writing Guide With Examples

How do you write an annotated bibliography.

To write an annotated bibliography, you need to evaluate your source then write a summary, evaluation, or reflection of the source. Once your annotation is complete, you will create a citation for the source using the rules for APA, MLA, or Chicago style.

What are the 3 parts of an annotated bibliography?

The three different parts of an annotated bibliography include the title, annotation, and citation. The title and citation format will vary based on the style you use. The annotation can include a summary, evaluation, or reflection.

How long is an annotated bibliography?

The length of an annotated bibliography can vary from about 150-250 words. However, some annotations can be shorter for the Chicago style.

What should an annotated bibliography look like?

The look of an annotated bibliography includes a title, citations, and annotation. Each source has a citation and annotation throughout the entire annotated bibliography to provide an overview of the relevance of your sources for your teacher.

What are 3 types of annotations?

The 3 types of annotation include descriptive, summary, and evaluation. You can choose to use one of these or all three in your annotations for your bibliography.

How useful was this post?

Click on a star to rate it!

Average rating 4.3 / 5. Vote count: 172

No votes so far! Be the first to rate this post.

We are sorry that this post was not useful for you!

Let us improve this post!

Tell us how we can improve this post?

Setting Up Dictionary Citations for Your Essay

How to do in-text and parenthetical citations, et al. and other latin abbreviations, chicago anthology examples.

How to Prepare an Annotated Bibliography: The Annotated Bibliography

Explanation, Process, Directions, and Examples

What is an annotated bibliography.

An annotated bibliography is 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.

Annotations vs. Abstracts

Abstracts are the purely descriptive summaries often found at the beginning of scholarly journal articles or in periodical indexes. Annotations are descriptive and critical; they may describe the author's point of view, authority, or clarity and appropriateness of expression.

The Process

Creating an annotated bibliography calls for the application of a variety of intellectual skills: concise exposition, succinct analysis, and informed library research.

First, locate and record citations to books, periodicals, and documents that may contain useful information and ideas on your topic. Briefly examine and review the actual items. Then choose those works that provide a variety of perspectives on your topic.

Cite the book, article, or document using the appropriate style.

Write a concise annotation that summarizes the central theme and scope of the book or article. Include one or more sentences that (a) evaluate the authority or background of the author, (b) comment on the intended audience, (c) compare or contrast this work with another you have cited, or (d) explain how this work illuminates your bibliography topic.

Critically Appraising the Book, Article, or Document

For guidance in critically appraising and analyzing the sources for your bibliography, see How to Critically Analyze Information Sources . For information on the author's background and views, ask at the reference desk for help finding appropriate biographical reference materials and book review sources.

Choosing the Correct Citation Style

Check with your instructor to find out which style is preferred for your class. Online citation guides for both the Modern Language Association (MLA) and the American Psychological Association (APA) styles are linked from the Library's Citation Management page .

Sample Annotated Bibliography Entries

The following example uses APA style ( Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association , 7th edition, 2019) for the journal citation:

Waite, L., Goldschneider, F., & Witsberger, C. (1986). Nonfamily living and the erosion of traditional family orientations among young adults. American Sociological Review, 51 (4), 541-554. The authors, researchers at the Rand Corporation and Brown University, use data from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Young Women and Young Men to test their hypothesis that nonfamily living by young adults alters their attitudes, values, plans, and expectations, moving them away from their belief in traditional sex roles. They find their hypothesis strongly supported in young females, while the effects were fewer in studies of young males. Increasing the time away from parents before marrying increased individualism, self-sufficiency, and changes in attitudes about families. In contrast, an earlier study by Williams cited below shows no significant gender differences in sex role attitudes as a result of nonfamily living.

This example uses MLA style ( MLA Handbook , 9th edition, 2021) for the journal citation. For additional annotation guidance from MLA, see 5.132: Annotated Bibliographies .

Waite, Linda J., et al. "Nonfamily Living and the Erosion of Traditional Family Orientations Among Young Adults." American Sociological Review, vol. 51, no. 4, 1986, pp. 541-554. The authors, researchers at the Rand Corporation and Brown University, use data from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Young Women and Young Men to test their hypothesis that nonfamily living by young adults alters their attitudes, values, plans, and expectations, moving them away from their belief in traditional sex roles. They find their hypothesis strongly supported in young females, while the effects were fewer in studies of young males. Increasing the time away from parents before marrying increased individualism, self-sufficiency, and changes in attitudes about families. In contrast, an earlier study by Williams cited below shows no significant gender differences in sex role attitudes as a result of nonfamily living.

Versión española

Tambíen disponible en español: Cómo Preparar una Bibliografía Anotada

Content Permissions

If you wish to use any or all of the content of this Guide please visit our Research Guides Use Conditions page for details on our Terms of Use and our Creative Commons license.

Reference Help

Annotated Bibliography

What is an annotated bibliography.

An annotated bibliography provides an overview or a brief account of the available research on a given topic. It is a list of research sources that takes the form of a citation for each source, followed by an annotation - a short paragraph sumarising and evaluating the source. An annotated bibliography may be a stand-alone assignment or a component of a larger assignment.

Purpose of an annotated bibliography

When set as an assignment, an annotated bibliography allows you to get acquainted with the material available on a particular topic.

Depending on your specific assignment, an annotated bibliography might:

What does an annotated bibliography look like?

Each entry in an annotated biliography has two components:

The annotation usually contains a brief summary of content and a short analysis or evaluation. Depending on your assignment you may be asked to summarise, reflect on, critique, evaluate or analyse each source. While an annotation can be as brief as one sentence, a paragraph is more usual. An example is provided below.

As with a normal reference list or bibliography, an annotated bibliography is usually arranged alphabetically according to the author’s last name.

An annotated bibliography summary should be about 100 - 200 words per citation—check with your lecturer/tutor as this may vary between faculties and assessments. Please also check with your lecturer about the elements each annotation should include.

Steps to writing an annotated bibliography

Questions to consider when selecting sources

The sources for your annotated bibliography should be carefully selected. Start by reading abstracts or skimming to help you identify and select relevant sources. Also keep in mind that, while annotated bibliographies are often ‘stand alone’ assignments, they can also be preliminary research about a particular topic or issue, and further research or a longer literature review may follow. Try to choose sources which together will present a comprehensive review of the topic.

Keep the following questions in mind to help clarify your choices

Surveying the sources

Take notes on your selected texts as you read. Pay attention to:

Evaluate and ask questions as you read

Record evaluations in your notes and consider:

How should I write the annotations?

Contents of an annotated bibliography

An annotation may contain all or part of the following elements depending on the word limit and the content of the sources you are examining.

Sample annotation

The citation goes first and is followed by the annotation. Make sure that you follow your faculty’s preferred citation style. The summary needs to be concise. Please note the following example is entirely fictitious.

In the sample annotation below, each element is numbered (see Key).

Essay and assignment writing guide

Study Hacks Workshops | All the hacks you need! 13 Feb – 13 Apr 2023

Purdue Online Writing Lab College of Liberal Arts

what is a descriptive annotated bibliography

Annotated Bibliographies

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice.

Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

This handout provides information about annotated bibliographies in MLA, APA, and CMS.

Definitions

A bibliography is a list of sources (books, journals, Web sites, periodicals, etc.) one has used for researching a topic. Bibliographies are sometimes called "References" or "Works Cited" depending on the style format you are using. A bibliography usually just includes the bibliographic information (i.e., the author, title, publisher, etc.).

An annotation is a summary and/or evaluation. Therefore, an annotated bibliography includes a summary and/or evaluation of each of the sources. Depending on your project or the assignment, your annotations may do one or more of the following.

For more help, see our handout on paraphrasing sources.

For more help, see our handouts on evaluating resources .

Reflect : Once you've summarized and assessed a source, you need to ask how it fits into your research. Was this source helpful to you? How does it help you shape your argument? How can you use this source in your research project? Has it changed how you think about your topic?

Your annotated bibliography may include some of these, all of these, or even others. If you're doing this for a class, you should get specific guidelines from your instructor.

Why should I write an annotated bibliography?

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.

The format of an annotated bibliography can vary, so if you're doing one for a class, it's important to ask for specific guidelines.

The bibliographic information : Generally, though, the bibliographic information of the source (the title, author, publisher, date, etc.) is written in either MLA or APA format. For more help with formatting, see our MLA handout . For APA, go here: APA handout .

The annotations: The annotations for each source are written in paragraph form. The lengths of the annotations can vary significantly from a couple of sentences to a couple of pages. The length will depend on the purpose. If you're just writing summaries of your sources, the annotations may not be very long. However, if you are writing an extensive analysis of each source, you'll need more space.

You can focus your annotations for your own needs. A few sentences of general summary followed by several sentences of how you can fit the work into your larger paper or project can serve you well when you go to draft.

Marshall University

Annotated Bibliography: How to Write...: Home

How to write an annotated bibliography

Phase 1: Understanding Your Needs

so, what is an annotation.

An annotation is more than just a brief summary of an article, book, Web site or other type of publication. An annotation should give enough information to make a reader decide whether to read the complete work. In other words, if the reader were exploring the same topic as you, is this material useful and if so, why?

How is an annotation different from an abstract?

While an abstract also summarizes an article, book, Web site or other type of publication, it is purely descriptive. Although annotations can be descriptive, they also include distinctive features about an item. Annotations can be evaluative and critical as we will see when we look at the two major types of annotations.

What is an annotated bibliography?

An annotated bibliography is an organized list of sources (like a reference list). It differs from a straightforward bibliography in that each reference is followed by a paragraph length annotation, usually 100–200 words in length.

Depending on the assignment, an annotated bibliography might have different purposes:

Types of annotated bibliographies

There are two major types of annotated bibliographies:

Phase 2: Getting Started

Now that you have reviewed the information for Phase 1, you are ready to begin writing your own annotated bibliography.

Annotated bibliographies may be arranged alphabetically or chronologically, check with your instructor to see what he or she prefers.

Guidelines for formatting the citations

Remember, the citations themselves must be formatted properly. Visit the Help Guides that Marshall University have prepared for you to help with your citation formatting:

Remember to check with your instructor if you are unsure which style to use.

The Two Types of Annotated Bibliographies

A descriptive or informative annotated bibliography describes or summarizes a source, similar to an abstract; it describes why the source is useful for researching a particular topic or question; and, it lists the article's distinctive features. In addition, it describes the author's main arguments and conclusions without evaluating what the author says or concludes.

Breeding evil. (2005, August 6). Economist , 376(8438), 9. Retrieved from http://www.economist.com

This editorial from the Economist describes the controversy surrounding video games and the effect they have on people who use them. The author points out that skepticism of new media have gone back to the time of the ancient Greeks, so this controversy surrounding video games is nothing new. The article also points out that most critics of gaming are people over 40 and it is an issue of generations not understanding one another, rather than of the games themselves. As the youth of today grow older, the controversy will die out, according to the author. The author of this article stresses the age factor over violence as the real reason for opposition to video games and stresses the good that gaming has done in most areas of human life. This article is distinctive in exploring the controversy surrounding video games from a generational standpoint and is written for a general audience.

Please pay attention to the last sentence . While it points out distinctive features about the item, it does not analyze the author's conclusions.

An analytical or critical annotation not only summarizes the material, it also analyzes what is being said. It examines the strengths and weaknesses of what is presented as well as describing the applicability of the author's conclusions to the research being conducted.

It is likely that, for most of your annotated bibliographies, you will be writing analytical or critical annotations.

This editorial from the Economist describes the controversy surrounding video games and the effect they have on people who use them. The article points out that most critics of gaming are people over 40 and it is an issue of age not of the games themselves. While the author briefly mentions studies done around the issue of violence and gaming, he does not go into enough depth for the reader to truly know the range of studies that have actually been done in this area, other than to take his word that the research is unsatisfactory. The author of this article stresses the age factor over violence as the real reason for opposition to video games and stresses the good gaming has done in most areas of human life. This article is a good resource for those wanting to begin to explore the controversy surrounding video games, however for anyone doing serious research, one should actually examine some of the research studies that have been done in this area rather than simply take the author's word that opposition to video games is simply due to an issue of generational divide.

Please pay attention to the last sentence . It criticizes the author's research.

Please note that in these samples, the citations follow the APA format. Your instructor may require you to use another citation format, such as MLA, so always check the assignment requirements first.

what is a descriptive annotated bibliography

Visit our Ask a Librarian page to view all the ways you can ask a subject expert for help!

The content on this page was found online here , and used with permission from University of Maryland University College librarians.

IMAGES

Awesome Descriptive Bibliography Example
😍 Annotated bibliography introduction sample. Annotated Bibliography Samples // Purdue Writing
Apa Style Annotated Bibliography Template
annotated bibliography assignment
Sample MLA Annotated Bibliography
10+ Annotated Bibliography

VIDEO

modified annotated bibliography
ENG 112 MLA Annotated Bibliography Instructions 2023 Cancelli
BibMe Online Citation Tool
ENGL103 Purpose for the Annotated Bibliography
Annotated Bibliography and Moore
Literature Review and Annotated Bibliography Basics- Feb 2019

COMMENTS

Annotated Bibliographies: A Step by Step Guide
A descriptive or informative annotated bibliography describes or summarizes a source like an abstract. It also describes why the source is
Descriptive Annotations
Descriptive annotations are intended to DESCRIBE the book, article, or other source. What might a good description include? Information about
Descriptive/Informative
A descriptive or informative annotated bibliography describes or summarizes the source, without evaluation. This description can include:.
How to Write an Annotated Bibliography
A descriptive or informative annotated bibliography describes or summarizes a source as does an abstract; it describes why the source is useful for
Descriptive and Critical Annotation
A descriptive annotation provides a full citation of the work, as well as a brief overview or summary, without evaluating the work.
Annotated Bibliography Examples & Step-by-Step Writing Guide
An annotated bibliography is a list of citations followed by a brief summary or analysis of your sources, aka annotations. The annotation gives information
How to Prepare an Annotated Bibliography
Abstracts are the purely descriptive summaries often found at the beginning of scholarly journal articles or in periodical indexes. Annotations
Annotated Bibliography
What does an annotated bibliography look like? · a bibliographic citation followed by · a short paragraph (an annotation) that includes concise
Annotated Bibliographies
An annotation is a summary and/or evaluation. Therefore, an annotated bibliography includes a summary and/or evaluation of each of the sources.
Home
A descriptive or informative annotated bibliography describes or summarizes a source, similar to an abstract; it describes why the source is