Information Literacy Session 5: Annotated Bibliography: What is an Annotated Bibliography?

The annotated bibliography is a list of your sources including citations and accompanying descriptions. Sources are listed in alphabetical order by author’s last name, allowing you to keep all of your sources in one place and offering other researchers insight into your materials.

 

MLA citations are used in English classes at Harold Washington College. 

Citations contain the information necessary for your reader (instructor) to understand what the information source was and where you located it. Citations will always contain two parts, an in-text citation that is directly connected to the information you are incorporating from the source material, and a longer citation that will be located on your Works Cited page and contains all possible details about the source material.

For more information constructing citations and for examples of citations for various types of sources (articles, books, websites, images, etc.), please see the following resources:

• The Purdue OWL site offers the MLA style guide online for free.
• Harold Washington College MLA style guide

Each entry on your annotated bibliography must have at least these two parts:

• an MLA citation. MLA citations are used in English classes at Harold Washington College. 

Citations contain the information necessary for your reader (instructor) to understand what the information source was and where you located it. 

For more information constructing citations and for examples of citations for various types of sources (articles, books, websites, images, etc.), please see the following resources:

• HWCL ENG 102 Embedded Librarian Session: Citing Sources
• The Purdue OWL site offers the MLA style guide online for free.
• Harold Washington College MLA style guide

 

• a summary. See the box at the right for help summarizing articles.

 

More involved annotated bibliographies may also include one or both of the following:

• an evaluation of the source’s credibility
• an indication of how the source will be used

The summary portion will consist of three points:

• The question or problem addressed by the article (the “topic)
• The article’s method of analysis (experimental? theoretical?)
• The article’s thesis, conclusions, and/or recommendations

The evaluation of credibility will note things such as:

• The timeliness of the study/paper.
• The author’s level of expertise (how much has he published in this field?)
• The source’s credibility (do they have a known bias, are they peer-reviewed, are they funded by a think tank with a political ideology?)

The assessment of the usefulness of the article to your project will disclose:

• What about the study is useful to your paper (an argument, a set of facts, the bibliography?)
• How you intend to use it (Does it support your main argument? Is it a counterargument? A refutation of a counterargument?)