Annotated Bibliography
Annotated Bibliography
Writing often begins with curiosity: generating ideas, creating a good question. To begin to pursue that question, you’ll search for sources and create an annotated bibliography. The purpose of an annotated bibliography is to help you organize, summarize, analyze, and evaluate the sources that you’re finding helpful in your research. Annotations describe the content and focus of a source; evaluate its methods, conclusions, reliability, and usefulness for your research; and/or record your reactions to it. Writing the annotated bibliography will not only help you record your findings, but also help you understand the conversation that you’re entering and refine your purpose.
Start by searching for and reading 4-6 promising secondary sources that help you understand the conversation and enable you to pursue your question. Each source should be cited according to APA style. Following each citation, write a one- to two-paragraph annotation, including a brief summary of the source and an evaluation of the source’s usefulness to your purpose.
As you read and think about your sources, try to be open to learning about the conversation and refining your question. You’ll find that research can help you focus or perhaps steer you in a new direction. You may find new insights and a fresh angle into the conversation. And as you become more familiar with the conversation, you’ll also be able to make more informed decisions about what audience makes the most sense and what this might mean for your essay’s content, organization, and style.
See the sample APA Annotation below for guidance on what your APA annotations for your own sources should look like:
Sample APA Annotation
Ehrenreich, B. (2001). Nickel and dimed: On (not) getting by in America. New York: Henry Holt and Company.
In this book of nonfiction based on the journalist’s experiential research, Ehrenreich attempts to ascertain whether it is currently possible for an individual to live on a minimum-wage in America. Taking jobs as a waitress, a maid in a cleaning service, and a Walmart sales employee, the author summarizes and reflects on her work, her relationships with fellow workers, and her financial struggles in each situation.
An experienced journalist, Ehrenreich is aware of the limitations of her experiment and the ethical implications of her experiential research tactics and reflects on these issues in the text. The author is forthcoming about her methods and supplements her experiences with scholarly research on her places of employment, the economy, and the rising cost of living in America. Ehrenreich’s project is timely, descriptive, and well-researched.
