Annotated Bibliography

What is an Annotated Bibliography?

The word annotation means "to summarize or explain a particular document".  A bibliography is a list of sources that are used (or will be used) in a research paper. So, an annotated bibliography is a list of sources that are both summarized and cited in MLA, APA, or Chicago Style. Typically, an annotated bibliography will require: 1) a summary of the source and 2) an evaluation of ways the source might be useful in your paper, or 3) a free written paragraph about the source.


What Types Of Sources Can I Use?

Some instructors may only allow scholarly, peer-reviewed sources (articles published in scholarly journals that can be found in the Kiefer Library database), whereas other instructors may allow non-scholarly sources, like Buzzfeed, Forbes, or TIME. However, most college-level research papers will require scholarly, peer-reviewed sources to ensure reliability.

Steps in the Process

Read Your Source

 You may want to use the SQ3R or chunking method in order to better understand it. If possible, print out your source so you can make notes of the main ideas and points in the text.

Find the Main Ideas

Write as if you were explaining the main points to a friend in the same way you would explain the plot of a movie. Leave out tiny details, but tell your friend the general, overarching ideas. Our summarizing page may help. Below is a satirical example. (Spoiler alert for a 400 year old play!)

Decide How You'll Use It

If you are also writing an evaluation paragraph, think about how the puzzle piece of this source would fit into the wider picture of your paper. Ask yourself:

Reflect and Compare

If you are assigned a free write paragraph, this can be any thoughts or reflection on the material you read. Ask yourself:

Example Annotated Bibliographies

Citations are photos to allow for Google Site mobile viewing of hanging indents; they may not align with annotations.

Summary and Evaluation Paragraphs (MLA)

This chapter outlines several works by Sarah Orne Jewitt and Mary Wilkins Freeman and identifies the domestic and undomesticated spaces that are present within each story. Alaimo discusses the domestic space as a space within a home, or private place, and the undomesticated space as nature. Within both Sarah Orne Jewitt and Mary Wilkins Freeman’s writings, the female characters are seen in both domestic and undomesticated spaces. The female characters have the ability to cross between the domestic and undomesticated spaces, which allows the women to live in a hybrid world between both spaces. These female characters are depicted as having a certain closeness to nature, which was unusual during the 19th century because women typically remained confined to the domestic space due to male oppression.

         Alaimo’s discussion of the hybrid domestic and undomesticated space will be useful to my research because I am examining the relationship between women and the natural world in Sarah Orne Jewitt’s The Country of the Pointed Firs, Marsh Rosemary, and A White Heron. The female characters within each story cross the line between the domestic and undomesticated space. Discontent with their domestic lives, the female characters demonstrate an agency unusual for women of their time period. This chapter will help me analyze the women’s special connection to nature that frees them from oppressive male characters. In addition, this chapter will allow me to highlight why wilderness is not only reserved for the masculine but can also be feminine space.

Summary and Free Write Paragraphs (APA)

Bauman discusses today’s society as a consumer-based society. A society of consumers demands instant gratification and unlimited access to fulfillment of all wants and needs. With that, such a culture creates instabilities of desires and needs, which means the fulfillment of these desires and needs is only for a limited time until a new want or need surfaces. Bauman points out that the constant consumption of the consumerist society boosts the economy and makes product innovation increase exponentially. However, although the economy benefits from consumer’s wants and needs, Bauman argues that instant gratification and constant consumption do not make people happy. In fact, Bauman claims that this is the reason a consumerist society thrives—there is never complete satisfaction and, thus, more consumption continues to occur in an attempt to fill a void.

         Bauman’s section on discussing the happiness of consumers based on their income and possessions was very interesting to me. The idea that society thrives on a void seems to be a little unsettling. Most people in today’s society participate in the consumerist economy and are constantly wanting more. It is sad to think that people are only wanting more because they are continuously unsatisfied—will there ever be complete satisfaction?

Summary and Evaluation Combined (Chicago)


       Baig discusses the importance of practicing writing and keeping it a part of an everyday routine. Similar to aspiring musicians, aspiring writers must take time to hone in on little skills that eventually build up to great talent. Baig points out that aspiring writers should not treat practicing like school. When practicing, there is no right or wrong way to write—getting words on the page is the only important part (editing can be worried about later). If an aspiring writer is constantly trying to produce the next bestseller, they will be disappointed because practice takes time. Baig advocates for freewriting because it gets creative juices flowing and allows the writer to get words onto a page without worrying about criticism. Baig offers good advice to novice writers who are just starting his or her writing career. Sometimes the hardest part about writing is worrying what other people are going to think. When the writer can put those worries aside, writing can begin. This is useful information because oftentimes in school, students are encouraged to be correct all the time; however, when practicing writing, it is important to write to leave behind external and internal criticisms.