Annotated Bibliography FAQs

 

1.  What is an annotated bibliography? 

An alphabetical list of information sources which includes both a bibliographic citation and an annotation for each entry.

 

2. What is an annotation?

A short summary following the citation which indicates to the reader the quality of the source being cited.

 

3. How long is an annotation?

Five (5) sentences, minimum.

 

4. What information do I put in each sentence?

 

Sentence #1:  Give a short description of the content, including what topics are covered and the form of the source (e.g. book, magazine, etc.)

 

            Sentence #2:  What are the credentials of the author or publisher/sponsor?

 

            Sentence #3:  How current is the information?

 

Sentence #4:  Is the information objective?  What is the purpose of the information (to inform? to persuade? etc.)

 

            Sentence #5:  Explain how this information source was useful (or not) to you.

 

5. Describe what an annotated bibliography looks like!

 Each entry begins with the correct bibliographic citation of the book, magazine article, website, etc.  If the citation is more than one line, the additional line is indented five spaces (one-half inch).  The annotation begins on the very next line with no indentation…there should be no blank lines within each entry.  Skip one line between each entry.  Arrange each entry in alphabetical order according to the first letter of each entry.

 

6.  Show me an example of an annotated bibliography entry.

 

Pittman, Craig. “Fury Over a Gentle Giant.”  Smithsonian Magazine February 2004: 5.  

      Proquest Platinum. Proquest. March 2, 2004 <http://proquest.umi.com/login.

This is a magazine article which summarizes the current controversy resulting from proposed regulations to increase protection of the endangered Florida manatee.  The author is a professional journalist who has covered Florida environment issues for five years.  The recently-published article covers historic as well as current (2003) manatee information. The author seems to objectively represent both the pro-development and pro-manatee sides of the issue.  The article helped me to learn more about the manatee as well as how it impacts people’s financial lives in coastal Florida.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    1.2