ANNOTATED BILIOGRAPHY

Introduction:

What are they and why are they used for …..
H. Stephen McMinn, Biology Subject Librarian Brookens Library

 The annotation usually consists of juy one paragraph, but your nstructor may
requiremore.
 An annotated bibliography is useful for documenting, your research in a specific
area,exploring varying viewpoint, and summarizing main points from different
sources.
 A list of sources that provides publication information and a short description of source
allied an annotation
 Annotated bibliography is a descriptive account of the particular literature source’s
bibliographic information; it is generally provided in alphabetical order (citation) with a
brief description about the content of literature and evaluative comments regarding the
usefulness of the particular literature
(annotation)
 In other words, annotated bibliography is a list of citation of books, research
articles and documents and each of these citations are followed by a brief
description about content and evaluation about its usefulness (about 150-
200 words) as annotation.
Definition of bibliography;
 An annotated bibliography is a list of citation to books, articles, and documents; each
citation is followed by a brief (usually about 150 words) descriptive and evaluative
paragraph, the annotation.
Main purpose of annotated bibliography
 It is inform readers about the relevance, accuracy and quality of source cited literature
is of use to them
 It helps the researchers to get deeper and clear understanding of the content of a
particular source of literature
 It provides them better comprehension about incorporate the particular literature in
their paper.
Types of an annotation::
 Indicative annotations defines the scope of the source, list the topics and explains what
the source is about, In this type of entry, there is no attempt to give actual data such as
hypothesis, proofs, author etc.
 Informative annotations:
 - This type of annotation is a summary of the source , An informative annotation hould
include the thesis of the work, arguments or hypothesis proofs and a conclusion.
 Evaluative annotation:
- This type of annotation assesses the sources strength and weakness, in terms of
usefulness and quality.
 Combination annotation:
- Most annotated bibliographies contain combination annotations. This type of annotation
will summarize or describe the topic, and then evaluate the sources usefulness and a
summary.
 Organization an annotated bibliography:
 The organization of the annotated bibliography .If not prescribed by faculty
instruction may be one of various methods including but not limited to:
- Alphabetical
- Choronological; either by date of publication or by priod of subject mattere
( century, era, decade, vent, year)
- By subtopic
- By format ( articles, books, government documents, media, web pagsd etc)
Elements of an annotation:
 Information found in an annotation may include
1. Qualification of authors: Based on 20 years of study William A.SDmith 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 comtemporary social mores
3. Audience and level of reading difficulty: “ Smith addresseshimelf to the scholer, albeit the
concluding chapters on capital punishment will be clear to any informed laymen
4. Bias or stand point of author:
Turner gears his study more to the romantic aspects of the age than the scientific and rational
developments
5. Relationhip 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 the
mes of the eighteenth centur, but is convinced the romantic elements at best are onlya skein
through the major prose and poetry.
6. Findings, results, and conclusion ( It available) and
7. Fomat/ Special fatures:
8. ( eg., bibliography, glossary, index, survey instruments, testing device setc)
Structure of an annotation:
 Length: Generally annotations constitute one paragraph and are approximately 100- 150
words long, with a goal of concise and explicative annotation.
 Person: The third person is the standard, through 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 ideasand 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
 Repetitive vacuous phases in your annotation, such as “ The author states”. This article
concern “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: Annotated should be one paragraph long. The paragraph should
contain a statement of the works major thesis, from which the rest of the sentences can
develop.

Components of annotated bibliography:

1. Citation:
- It is to make citation article, book or document using prescribed style of
bibliography writing such as Vancouver’s American Psychological
Association ( APA)
- Modern language Association ( MLA), Chicago and so on
2. Annotation:
- The second components of the annotationbiliography is to briefly write
the summary of content in approximately 4-7 sentences or 150-200
words, which could vary from university to university based on a local
policies
It consists of ;
 Author’s background and authority for content
 Central theme of article, book or document
 Methodology ( if research paper)
 Strengths, weakness and justification on usefulness of content
 Comparison with other studies on the topic
 Conclusion about content and source
Purposes of annotated bibliography:
 Provide information to readers about the relevance, accuracy and quality of
source cited in particular paper
 Serves as a guide for other researchers that the source of cited literature is of
their use and what, why and how it is of their use.
  Helps the researchers to get deeper and clearer understanding of the content
of a particular source of the literature, which provides them the better
comprehension about what and how to incorporate the particular literature
in their paper
 Provides clear and comprehensive understanding of the content of source of
literature and its evaluative summary about its usefulness.
Process of writing annotated bibliography
 It needs a variety of academic and intellectual skills as literature search
strategies, ability to critically appraise, succinct, comprehension and
concise, composition of content.
a) Literature source identification: Identify the literature relevant o
particular topic under study such as books, original research articles,
periodicals other documents and so on
b) Critical review and appraisal of content. Review and critically
appraise the content for the relevance, accuracy and quality of particular
content in the literature source
c) Choosing relevant content: Choose the content, which is relevant to
particular topic from variety of domains and perspectives
d) Citation of source: Make citation of article , book or document using
prescribed style of bibliography writing such as Vancouver’s American
Psychological Association (APA) Modern Language Association
(MLA), Chicago and so on.
e) Annotation writing: Concisely write the annotation that briefly
summarizes the content for its central theme, strength, weakness,
conclusion and evaluative sentence about usefulness of the topic ( as
brief as 4-7 sentences or 150-200 word)
Writing style should be used in the annotation:
 Each annotation should be concise, Do not write too much remember, the
writing a summary, not an essay, annotations should not extend beyond
one paragraph unless otherwise stipulated in the assignment guidelines,
As this is not an extended piece of writing, only mention significant and
relevant details.
 Any information apparent in the title of the text or journal can be omitted
from the annotation.
  Background materials and references to previous work by the same author
usually are not included , the addressing one text at a time there is no
need to cross reference or use in text citations to support the annotation
 The annotation unless otherwise stipulated it should write in full sentences
using academic vocabulary.
Sample annotation:
The citation goes first and is followed by the annotation, make sure that the
faculty’s preferred citations syle. The summary needs to be concise, in the
sample annotation below
1. The viver, C.G lanford B and Black J.w, 2024, Employee turnoverand job
performance monitoring , The influence of salary growth and promotion,
journal of Armchar psychology Vol50-54
Example of annotated bibliography:
SHARMA, S.K., Walia., I., Sen R (2008), Effect of Smoking on Pin Site Rate
among Patients with External Skeletal Fixation, Nursing and Midwifery Research
Journal, 4(2), 68-72.