Bibliography

ONE IN A SERIES OF WRITING TIPS FROM THE CTL

Annotated Bibliographies

Short and to the Point

An annotated bibliography is a list of sources with brief descriptions of each source. An annotation can be as brief as a phrase or as long as a two or three fully developed paragraphs. Each annotation begins with the full citation of the annotated work. That citation follows the bibliographic style required by the instructor, department, or field (e.g., APA, MLA, Turabian, Chicago Manual of Style, etc.). If the work is a book, indicate the number of pages in the book at the end of the bibliographic citation. The length depends partially on the length of the original and on the degree of specificity of the annotation— and partially on what your teacher requires. The shorter kind may only give the gist of the original— the briefest sort of summary containing only the basic information in the book or article. The longer type might be an evaluative summary, which usually indicates the major points made by the author and also assesses the quality or utility of the work. It may include such elements as the perspective or major argument of the writer, the purpose of the work, its special characteristics that help to strengthen or weaken it, and its utility for researchers in that field. If you are making an annotated bibliography list for a class, find out what kind your teacher expects, and about how long each should be. The difficulty in writing an annotated bibliography is the need to be both specific yet succinct— a difficult task in any kind of writing. Below we provide examples, some not-sogood and some better. The citation format used here follows MLA style. American Association of University Professors. “ Statement on Teaching Evaluation.” AAUP Bulletin, 1975, 61, 200-02.

Both of these examples evaluate, but the first skimps on basic information.

The statement provides guidelines for measuring teaching effectiveness. It is a helpful resource for those developing...