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ENG 100 - Freshman Composition - Professor Walker: Annotated Bibliography

What is an Annotated Bibliography?

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An annotated bibliography is a list of sources you cite such as books, journals, magazines, newspapers, websites, etc. However, each citation is followed by an annotation or description of the source. The annotation is brief and is in paragraph format. Annotations are often intended to inform the reader of the quality and usefulness of the sources cited. They may also evaluate the author’s viewpoint and authority. (In contrast, abstracts are the descriptive summaries found at the beginning of scholarly journal articles or at the beginning of full text articles in an online database.)

Follow your instructor’s guidelines for information to include in the annotation, or choose several of the items below:

  • Describe the content
  • Describe the usefulness
  • Discuss the author’s background and authority
  • Discuss the author’s conclusions and viewpoint
  • Discuss the audience the source is intended for
  • Evaluate the methods of research
  • Evaluate the reliability
  • Describe your overall reaction to the source
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