An annotation’s purpose is to give its audience an idea of what information is presented in a source. This information keeps the audience from having to read the source themselves. When done correctly, an annotation lets its audience know if the source being annotated is going to be useful to them.

Annotating a source (article, essay, book, etc.) calls for the writer to review the source. In the review, the writer of the annotation gives the audience bibliographical information about the source and a summary of the main points in the source.

It is important in your research to analyse and evaluate your sources. Annotation of a source is an important method for doing just that and can be added to your process journal. When you add an annotated source such as this, you are demonstrating the "excellent research skills" which is part of the grading criteria.

• Look at annotating as a method of summarizing a source. Annotations, like summaries, include only main points and not a lot of details.
• Include enough info in the summary to insure that your audience will have a clear picture of what is presented in the source.
• Make sure that your audience does not have to go and read the source themselves just to find out if it is something they can use.
• Include the bibliographical information in case your readers do want to go and view the source.
• If the annotation is for your use only, feel free to include any connections to personal experiences or any other commentary that will help you when you get ready to use this source in your essay. Other commentary may include your thoughts and feelings about the information in the source.

Length of Annotation

Generally, annotations should not be very long (50-100 words) because they only include the main ideas and maybe a few of the details about how the source arrived at its conclusions. If you are able to make any connections between the source being annotated and other sources that you have read, please do so in the annotation. Again, if the annotation is for your use only, insert any other details that will help you.

Write down all pertinent bibliographical information about the source that will assist the audience if they choose to go and find the source. If the source is a periodical, this information will include article titles and the title of the periodical (magazine or newspaper) they may have come from, page numbers, and the date of the periodical. If the source is a book, you will need the title of the book, author(s), copyright date, city of publishing, and the publishing company.

Read the entire source if it is not very long. If the source is long, like a book, skimming can be just as effective as reading since you are only searching for the main ideas.

Make notes about the main ideas and any connections to other sources that come to mind while reading.

Read and re-read, skim and re-skim the source you are annotating until you are sure that the main ideas have been found.

See the examples above...