LIS 105: Information Literacy Basics

Your final project for this class is an annotated bibliography. You will use the skills you’ve been learning in class to search for, evaluate, and select 5-7 quality information sources on your topic to write your annotated bibliography. 

What is an annotated bibliography? 

An annotated bibliography is a list of references with brief comments (annotations) for each resource listed, summarizing the resource and analyzing its usefulness in terms of:

• the value of evidence and arguments in the resource.
• the qualifications and credibility of the author(s) and publication source.
• how the resource will support your argument or thesis.

Annotated bibliographies can be organized alphabetically by author's last name, or chronologically. 

See some examples here.

Your annotated bibliography should look something like this: 

Annotated bibliographies can be descriptive or informative, or analytical or critical. You may use an annotated bibliography to:

• organize the results of your exploration of a topic.
• provide a literature review on a subject, gathering major sources on the topic.
• provide an overview of a subject area.
• summarize preliminary research, to help formulate a thesis.
• demonstrate your research on a subject.
• analyze strengths and weaknesses of resources on a particular subject.
• and more

Each entry for an annotated bibliography consists of two parts, as seen on the previous tab:  a citation and an annotation for each source. However you approach writing annotations, remember to include:

• a brief summary, including the resource's scope, completely in your own words.
• the value of evidence and arguments in the resource.
• the qualifications and credibility of the author(s) and publication source.
• how the resource will support your argument or thesis.

Make sure that summaries are short and to-the-point, but also that you are using complete sentences and proper spelling, grammar, and punctuation. Each annotation should consist of 1-2 brief paragraphs, around 100-200 words in total length. Because annotations are narrative, make sure that sentences flow smoothly from one to the next. 

Note: You do not need to respond explicitly to each of the above points in your annotation. Instead of writing "Dr. Daniels is qualified because they are a professor at Truman College, and the information is credible because they have published several articles on this same topic in academic journals," you can acknowledge this information in other ways. For example, "This study, based on Dr. Daniels' extensive research, reveals the connection between the rise in reported feelings of loneliness and increased isolation due to the pandemic." 

This page offers helpful instructions for writing an annotation.