An annotated bibliography is a standard research tool used to prepare for a research paper. It is a list of useful sources on a focused topic; each item in the list contains a full Works Cited entry, an annotation describing the source and its relation to the researcher’s larger project, and source quotations that might be used in your research paper. An example of the format for an annotated bibliography can be found below.
SOURCES:
- a total of four secondary sources;
- at least two sources from peer-reviewed journals found through the college subscription databases. You may use the database called JSTOR to find all your peer-reviewed sources as long as you use full-length articles, not just reviews.
- Other than your two peer-reviewed sources, your remaining sources can be of any kind, as long as it’s legitimate. Your media literacy assignment should have prepared you to tell legitimate sources from less worthy sources.
WHAT TO DO WITH EACH SOURCE:
- Cite it. Each entry should begin with an accurate MLA-style Works Cited citation. Entries should be in alphabetical order by citation.
- Annotate it. Each entry should contain one paragraph about the source, including its main point and its relevance or potential value to your own research paper.
- Quote it. Each entry should contain two to three quotations that might be used in your research paper. You can number your quotations or use bullet points. Don’t forget that your quotations need in-text citations.
- Then repeat these three steps for your next source.
EXAMPLE:
Grayson, Donald K. “Donner Party Deaths: A Demographic Assessment.” The Journal of Anthropological Research, vol. 46, no. 3, Fall 1990, pp. 41-50, pp. 223-242.
This space is where your annotation should go. Your annotation should point out the source’s main points, how they connect, how they back up your source’s main purpose. Your annotation can point out how this particular source differs from other sources. If you have legitimate intellectual objections to the main point of this particular source, you can discuss those as well. Your annotation only has to be one paragraph long, but it should be substantial. It should be difficult to say as much as you need to say in one paragraph, but try your best. Your annotation should address how this particular source might be useful to your larger research project, which ends with your research paper.
“It is no great surprise that the Donner Party was heavily loaded with males and that individuals between ages 20 and 39 tended strongly to be male. Males contributed a disproportionate share to the western emigration in general.” (231)
“Even though it is possible that one member of the party, Lewis Keseberg, hastened the demise of one or more people at the snowbound Sierran encampment during the spring of 1847, and the young William Hook is said to have died after gorging himself when rescuers made food available, all or nearly all of the 35 died of some combination of starvation and exposure.” (232)
“The pattern of death and survivorship within the Donner Party thus both follows from and amplifies our understanding of patterns of human mortality under conditions marked by famine and extreme cold.” (241)