What is an Annotated
Bibliography?_______________________________________________
An annotated
bibliography is an organized list of sources (may be any variety of
materials, books, documents, videos, articles, web sites, CD-ROMs,
etc.) with an accompanying paragraph that describes, explains, and/or
evaluates each entry in terms of quality, authority, and
relevance.
What is the Purpose of an Annotated
Bibliography?__________________________________
An annotated bibliography
may serve a number of purposes, including but not limited
to:
- a review of the
literature on a particular subject
- illustrate the
quality of research that you have done
- provide examples of
the types of sources available
- describe other items
on a topic that may be of interest to the reader
- explore the subject
for further research
The annotated
bibliography may be selective or comprehensive in its coverage. A
selective annotated bibliography includes just those items that are
best for the topic while an exhaustive annotated bibliography attempts
to identify all that is available on a subject.
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Organization of an Annotated
Bibliography_________________________________________
The
organization of the annotated bibliography, if not prescribed by
faculty instructions, may be one of various methods, including but not
limited to:
- alphabetical
- chronological
- date of
publication
- time period of
subject matter (century, era, decade, event, year)
- by subtopic
- by format (articles,
books, government documents, media, web pages, etc.)
- by language
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Annotations vs.
Abstracts_______________________________________________________
Annotations in an annotated
bibliography usually perform two functions, describe the source
and evaluate the source. The annotation is a concise description
of a particular source, including important aspects of content not
evident in the title. It enables the researcher to establish the
relevance of a specific journal article, book, research report,
or government document, etc. and to decide whether to consult the
full text of the work.
Abstracts, such as those found in various periodical databases or
those accompanying scholarly journal articles are usually just descriptive
summaries.
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Elements of an
Annotation_______________________________________________________
Information found
in an annotation may include:
1. qualifications
of author(s);
"Based on 20
years of study, William A. Smith, Professor of English at XYZ
University...";
2.
purpose/scope:
"...sets
out to place John Turner in eighteenth century England and show the
development of his philosophy in relation to contemporary
social mores";
3. audience and
level of reading difficulty:
"Smith addresses
himself to the scholar, albeit the concluding chapters on capital
punishment will be clear to any informed
layman";
4. bias or
standpoint of author :
"Turner gears
his study more to the romantic aspects of the age than the
scientific and rational developments";
5. relationship to
other works in the field:
"Here Turner
departs drastically from A. F. Johnson (Two will not, New York,
Riposte Press, 1964) who not only has developed the rational themes
of the eighteenth century but is convinced the romantic elements at
best are only a skein through the major prose and
poetry";
6. findings,
results, and conclusions (if available); and
7. format/special
features
(e.g.,
bibliography, glossary, index, survey instruments, testing devices,
etc.).
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Structure of an
Annotation______________________________________________________
- Length:
Generally, annotations constitute
one paragraph and are approximately 100 -150 words long, with a goal
of concise and explicative annotations
- Person:
The third person is the
standard, though first person may be appropriate for certain types
of annotated bibliographies.
- Language and
Vocabulary:
Use the vocabulary of
the author, as much as possible, to convey the ideas and conclusions
of the author. If you use a quotation excerpted from the work
set it within quotation marks.
Vary your sentence
structure and try to avoid repetivitive vacuuous phrases in your
annotations, such as, "The author states," "This article concerns,"
or "The purpose of this report is," as well as sentences starting
with "It was suggested that," "It was found that," and "It was
reported that."
- Format -
Sentences:
Whole sentences are
preferable, but single descriptive words, and simple phrases or
lists may be acceptable.
- Format - Paragraphs:
Annotations
should be one paragraph long. The paragraph should contain a
statement of the work's major thesis, from which the rest of the
sentences can develop.
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Citation Format ________________________________________________________________
The bibliography portion
of the annotated bibliography usually follows one of the standard
citation formats, APA, MLA, Chicago, etc. Citation format information
is available from the library's How do I...? Cite a
Source web page. The most complete citation resources
remain in print; copies of the APA, MLA, Chicago, Turabian, ASA and
ACA style guides are available at the reference desk.
For more information ask
a reference librarian.
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Examples of an
Annotated Bibliography Entry _______________________________________
Example 1:
Tran,
Anthony and Allan M. Tow. “America, Your Children Are Left Behind.”
Journal of Paralegal Education and Practice, vol. 13, 1997: 115.
Online. LEXIS-NEXIS® Academic, March 29, 2002.
A refugee of the Vietnam
War writes an overview of the legal status of Amerasians, particularly
those from Korea, the Philippines, and Vietnam. The extensive
bibliography in this law review article is especially useful for
identifying relevant legislation on Amerasians.
Example
2:
Broude, Norma.
Impressionism: a feminist reading. New York: Rizzoli, 1991.
In this publication
Broude has taken full advantage of her feminist lens to scrutinize
modern French science. Her text is accessible and reader-friendly and
uses poststructuralism without becoming a slave to its theories. Her
systematic examination of the field, particularly in "The Gendering of
Art, Science, and Nature in the Nineteenth Century," reveals
underlying patterns of gender discrimination inherent in traditional
French philosophy, which upholds Descartes' "I think, therefore I am."
Her examination of the social relations between art and science
compels readers to take a harder more skeptical look at the sexual
politics of postmodernism, whise theory seems to be rooted within the
French Cartesian tradition. Her book should be require reading for
anyone interest in art, the feminine principle, and how it is treated
in a male-oriented universe.
(From Feminist Art Criticism;
an annotated bibliography. New York, G.K. Hall,
1993)
Example 3:
Dorival, Bernard.
"Ukiyo-e and European Painting." pp. 27-71. In Dialogue in Art; Japan
and the West. Tokyo: Kodansha, 1976.
Known in France around
1860, Ukiyo-e prints had an immediate influence on the vision and the
craft of painters. First, Theodore Rousseau and Millet and then
Whistler, Manet, and mainly Degas were profoundly affected.
Asymmetrical compositions, scenes and landscapes represented from
above or below, figures shown in close-up, pale palette, flat areas of
color, the replacement of Albertian perspective with the system of
opposed diagonals: all these innovations were taken up by the
Impressionists, particularly Monet, who learned moreover not to reduce
the scene he was painting to the limits of the canvas, and absorbed a
pantheistic feeling for nature contrary to traditional Western
humanism. Japanese graphic art had a continuing influence on French
painting from the Post-Impressionists to the Nabis and the Fauves, as
well as on the work of Ensor, Munch, Klimt and others. After the
Renaissance rediscovery of ancient art, nothing had so influenced
European painting as Japanese prints.
(From Les Fauves; a
sourcebook. Westport, Greenwood Press,
1994)
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Links to
Annotated Bibliographies on the Web______________________________________
- Annotated Bibliography of Government Documents Related to the
Threat of Terrorism and the Attacks of September 11,
2001
Example of an annotated bibliography arranged alphabetically by
document title within broad subject areas, such as Weapons of Mass
Destruction, Afghanistan, and Organizing the Government to Combat
Terrorism.
- Annotated
Bibliography and Guide to Archival Resources on the History of Jewish
Women in America
Example of an annotated bibliography organized
by format, i.e., categories of books, articles, collections of
memoirs, oral histories and creative writings, as well as archival
resources.
- Avian
Collision and Electrocution: An Annotated Bibliography
Example
of an alphabetically arranged annotated bibliography that also
provides indexing for various subject, taxonomic, and geographic
categories of information.
- Scientific
Misconduct: An Annotated Bibliography
Example of a simple,
alphabetically arranged, selective annotated bibliography.
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Some Book Length
Annotated Bibliographies at Scribner LIbrary_______________________
- African American
women : an annotated bibliography / compiled by Veronica G. Thomas,
Kisha Braithwaite, and Paula Mitchell. 2001
Location: Reference Collection -- 1st floor Call Number: E185.86
T46 2001
- Animal rights
movement in the United States, 1975-1990 : an annotated bibliography
/ Bettina Manzo.
Location: Reference Collection -- 1st floor Call Number: HV4764
.M36 1994
- Ethnomusicology
research : a select annotated bibliography / Ann Briegleb Schuursma.
Location: Reference Collection -- 1st floor Call Number: ML128.E8
S4 1992
- Peyotism and
the Native American church : an annotated bibliography / Phillip
M. White. 2000
Location: Reference Collection -- 1st floor Call Number: E99.R3
W4 2000
- Shakespeare and
minorities : an annotated bibliography, 1970-2000 / Parvin Kujoory.
2001
Location: Reference Collection -- 1st floor Call Number: PR2992
.K8 2001
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Adapted from:
Katz, W.A., "Annotations" in Encyclopedia of Library and Information
Science (Vol. 1; New York: Marcel Dekker, 1968)
Owen Willams, "Writing an Annotated Bibliography," University of
Minnesota, Crookson Library. Retrieved November 17,2004 <http://www.crk.umn.edu/library/links/annotate.htm>
"Writing Annotations," University of Toledo Libraries
Retrieved November 17, 2004 <http://library.utoledo.edu/help/guides/annotations.pdf>
"Writing an annotated bibliography," Lawrence University, Seeley
G. Mudd Library
Retrieved November 17, 2004 <http://www.lawrence.edu/library/guides/annotated.shtml>
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