Format for Turning in the Annotated Bibliography
Part 1: The Rationale
Before your list of sources, your bibliography needs a brief introduction (500 words minimum) that explains your rationale for the project. Start by listing your research question, but also explain the following— the scope and variety of your sources, how you organized them in your bibliography, where you located them, any problems you encountered while conducting research, any sources that you did not manage to include but would still like to use in your final project, any gaps that you noticed in the research, and any preliminary conclusions you have reached based on your research thus far.
Part 2: The Annotations Themselves
In addition to complete bibliographic information, each annotation should contain 1) a summary of the source, and 2) an evaluation of the source (using criteria such as completeness, comprehensiveness, clarity of presentation, point of view presented, level of detail, quality and quantity of research). Annotations should be approximately 100 to 150 words each. Be selective about how much information you include so that you give readers a clear idea of what the source is about without overwhelming them with too much detail.
Begin each annotation by briefly summarizing the overall claim, scope, and subject of the source. Next, evaluate the source in terms of how well it fulfills its purpose and point out any limitations that it might have. Consider questions such as:
How complete is the information presented?
Is the author an expert on the subject?
What kind of information does the author present: statistical, personal/anecdotal?
How does the kind of information presented affect the quality and significance of the work?
Does the source present flawed information?
Are the conclusions reached consistent with the information presented?
Does the author support all the claims made with evidence?
Does the source present accurate and up-to-date information?
Does the source cite information from other sources?
