A bibliography is a list of books and other sources that are referred during a scholarly study. Students have to include a bibliography at the end of their research paper or dissertation or thesis. The whole purpose of having a bibliography is to give a proof that the study has been conducted by referring to credible sources both primary and secondary. There are various types of Bibliographies that are used some of them are:
Annotated Bibliography
Current Bibliography
Retrospective Bibliography
Serial Bibliography
International Bibliography etc
Above mentioned are just of few of the many kinds of bibliographies that exist. When one talks about annotated bibliography it means a list of citations of books, articles, and other documents. Each citation is followed by a brief descriptive paragraph which is known as the annotation. The whole purpose of including an annotation is to inform the readers of the relevance, accuracy, and quality of the sources cited. Each summary should be focused on the central theme that would give the audience a general idea of the source’s content.
Writing an annotated bibliography is rather simple. There are four easy steps:
1. Know the format to be used:
In academia, there are various types of formats that are used for research papers/ dissertations. MLA format, APA format, Chicago 16 format etc are some of the types that are preferred by different universities. In order to start with the bibliography, you should know what format has been used in the study. How will the format affect your annotated bibliography? Every research study follows a certain system of writing. For instance,
• Modern Language Association (MLA) bibliography format includes the following details: Author. Title of source. Title of container, Other contributors, Version, Number, Publisher, Publication date, Location. Example:
“Hush.” Buffy the Vampire Slayer, created by Joss Whedon, performance by Sarah Michelle Gellar, season 4, episode 10, WB Television Network,14 Dec. 1999.
• American Psychological Association (APA) bibliography format includes the following details: Authors’ names. Title of the resource (in italics). Name of the source retrieved from
Angeli, E., Wagner, J., Lawrick, E., Moore, K., Anderson, M., Soderlund, L., & Brizee, A. (2010, May 5). General format. Retrieved from http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/
Above mentioned formats are different and each has a different way of inserting information. Thus before starting to make an annotated bibliography acquaint yourself with the format that has to be used.
2. Know the type of Annotation:
The use of annotations would depend on your professor’s choice. There are different types of annotations that the universities follow. They are:
Summary Annotations: They are further divided into two categories:
Informative and Indicative annotated bibliographies: As the name suggests informative annotated bibliography include the thesis of work, argument, proofs and a conclusion. Indicative annotated bibliography, on the other hand, provides overall information about the work that has been used.
Evaluative Annotations: This kind of annotation analyzes the strength and weakness of the source. Evaluative annotations go beyond summarising; it involves critical dissection of the source as to how helpful was the source during the research study.
Combination Annotations: Under this, the source is summarised and critically evaluated with regard to its usefulness.
3. Elements to include:
In order to write an annotated bibliography one has to know what to include in the annotation part. There are a number of essentials that can be included in the annotations depending on the requirements and formats. For instance, some of the elements start with:
Bibliographic Citation
Author’s background
Purpose of author’s content
Scope of author’s content
Central argument of the author
Audience
Method Followed
Credibility of sources
Lacunae in the study
And the description can go on depending on the kind of annotation the professor demands. As observed in most of the formats the annotations are brief and consist more or less all the above-mentioned information.
4. Examples:
As discussed above there are various kinds of formats that universities follow. Thus the annotation would vary with the format. For example:
• MLA Format Annotated Bibliography-
London, Herbert. "Five Myths of the Television Age." Television Quarterly 10 (1) Spring 1982: 81-89.
Herbert London, the Dean of Journalism at New York University and author of several books and articles, explains how television contradicts five commonly believed ideas. He uses specific examples of events seen on television, such as the assassination of John Kennedy, to illustrate his points. His examples have been selected to contradict such truisms as: "seeing is believing"; "a picture is worth a thousand words"; and "satisfaction is its own reward." London uses logical arguments to support his ideas which are his personal opinion. He doesn't refer to any previous works on the topic. London's style and vocabulary would make the article of interest to any reader.
• APA Format Annotated Bibliography-
Maak, T. (2007). Responsible leadership, stakeholder engagement, and the emergence of social capital. Journal of Business Ethics, 74, 329-343. doi:10.1007/s10551-007-9510-5
This article focuses on the role of social capital in responsible leadership. It looks at both the social networks that a leader builds within an organisation and the links that a leader creates with external stakeholders. Maak’s main aim with this article seems to be to persuade people of the importance of continued research into the abilities that a leader requires and how they can be acquired.
If one looks closely at the annotation styles in both the formats, there are differences that one will find. By following the format diligently writing annotations will not be a difficult task.
Annotated Bibliography
Current Bibliography
Retrospective Bibliography
Serial Bibliography
International Bibliography etc
Above mentioned are just of few of the many kinds of bibliographies that exist. When one talks about annotated bibliography it means a list of citations of books, articles, and other documents. Each citation is followed by a brief descriptive paragraph which is known as the annotation. The whole purpose of including an annotation is to inform the readers of the relevance, accuracy, and quality of the sources cited. Each summary should be focused on the central theme that would give the audience a general idea of the source’s content.
Writing an annotated bibliography is rather simple. There are four easy steps:
1. Know the format to be used:
In academia, there are various types of formats that are used for research papers/ dissertations. MLA format, APA format, Chicago 16 format etc are some of the types that are preferred by different universities. In order to start with the bibliography, you should know what format has been used in the study. How will the format affect your annotated bibliography? Every research study follows a certain system of writing. For instance,
• Modern Language Association (MLA) bibliography format includes the following details: Author. Title of source. Title of container, Other contributors, Version, Number, Publisher, Publication date, Location. Example:
“Hush.” Buffy the Vampire Slayer, created by Joss Whedon, performance by Sarah Michelle Gellar, season 4, episode 10, WB Television Network,14 Dec. 1999.
• American Psychological Association (APA) bibliography format includes the following details: Authors’ names. Title of the resource (in italics). Name of the source retrieved from
Angeli, E., Wagner, J., Lawrick, E., Moore, K., Anderson, M., Soderlund, L., & Brizee, A. (2010, May 5). General format. Retrieved from http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/
Above mentioned formats are different and each has a different way of inserting information. Thus before starting to make an annotated bibliography acquaint yourself with the format that has to be used.
2. Know the type of Annotation:
The use of annotations would depend on your professor’s choice. There are different types of annotations that the universities follow. They are:
Summary Annotations: They are further divided into two categories:
Informative and Indicative annotated bibliographies: As the name suggests informative annotated bibliography include the thesis of work, argument, proofs and a conclusion. Indicative annotated bibliography, on the other hand, provides overall information about the work that has been used.
Evaluative Annotations: This kind of annotation analyzes the strength and weakness of the source. Evaluative annotations go beyond summarising; it involves critical dissection of the source as to how helpful was the source during the research study.
Combination Annotations: Under this, the source is summarised and critically evaluated with regard to its usefulness.
3. Elements to include:
In order to write an annotated bibliography one has to know what to include in the annotation part. There are a number of essentials that can be included in the annotations depending on the requirements and formats. For instance, some of the elements start with:
Bibliographic Citation
Author’s background
Purpose of author’s content
Scope of author’s content
Central argument of the author
Audience
Method Followed
Credibility of sources
Lacunae in the study
And the description can go on depending on the kind of annotation the professor demands. As observed in most of the formats the annotations are brief and consist more or less all the above-mentioned information.
4. Examples:
As discussed above there are various kinds of formats that universities follow. Thus the annotation would vary with the format. For example:
• MLA Format Annotated Bibliography-
London, Herbert. "Five Myths of the Television Age." Television Quarterly 10 (1) Spring 1982: 81-89.
Herbert London, the Dean of Journalism at New York University and author of several books and articles, explains how television contradicts five commonly believed ideas. He uses specific examples of events seen on television, such as the assassination of John Kennedy, to illustrate his points. His examples have been selected to contradict such truisms as: "seeing is believing"; "a picture is worth a thousand words"; and "satisfaction is its own reward." London uses logical arguments to support his ideas which are his personal opinion. He doesn't refer to any previous works on the topic. London's style and vocabulary would make the article of interest to any reader.
• APA Format Annotated Bibliography-
Maak, T. (2007). Responsible leadership, stakeholder engagement, and the emergence of social capital. Journal of Business Ethics, 74, 329-343. doi:10.1007/s10551-007-9510-5
This article focuses on the role of social capital in responsible leadership. It looks at both the social networks that a leader builds within an organisation and the links that a leader creates with external stakeholders. Maak’s main aim with this article seems to be to persuade people of the importance of continued research into the abilities that a leader requires and how they can be acquired.
If one looks closely at the annotation styles in both the formats, there are differences that one will find. By following the format diligently writing annotations will not be a difficult task.