CEP: Annotated Bibliography

Step 1: Summarize

Summarize in your own words. Use direct quotes sparingly and be sure to contextualize or explain if a quote is incorporated. DO NOT use "I" in this paragraph as this is your objective summary of the source, not your analysis or personal response to the source.

Step 2: Evaluate

Evaluate the source for authority, quality, currency, and bias. 

1 ) AUTHOR First, examine if the author is an expert in the field that you are researching. What is their background? Credentials? 

2) SOURCE Next, consider the source in which the article was published. How do you know its quality? Is it a scholarly journal? Magazine article?  

3) DATE Reflect upon the date that the source was published. What impact does the currency of the article have on its reliability?

4) BIAS Finally, identify the source's and/or author's bias. All articles have bias. Bias is not necessarily negative, but it must be identified.

Step 3: Connection to Research Question

Explain how the source responds to your Research Question. How does the source support or differ from your other sources? What new perspective or insight does it add? Explain how the quality of the source (academic or general) affects the way that it responds to your research question. You can use "I" here because you are sharing your analysis and response to the source.