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An Annotated Bibliography is a list of "references" or "works cited" that includes a brief summary and evaluation of each resource (book, article, website). It is helpful for organizing your sources and preparing to write the "literature review" section of a research paper. It also helps to hone your topic based on the amount of research available that supports your thesis.
There are two types of annotated bibliography:
Descriptive or Informative: Like an abstract, this form of annotation explains the main argument of the resource and why it is important to your topic. It states the authors' point without analyzing their conclusions.
Critical or Analytical: This form of annotation provides a summary of the work as well as showing its relevance to the current research project. Also compares and contrast this work to other works in your bibliography.
Length varies --
Descriptive/informative annotations should be brief (100-150 words).
Critical/Analytical annotations should be a bit longer (250 words).
Annotations should not exceed 300 words. Your goal is to pare a long research document into 1-2 paragraphs that show your reader the gist of the work.
Ask your professor how long and detailed the annotated bibliography should be.
Check out these websites with examples of annotated bibliographies:
Check out these websites with examples of annotated bibliographies: