What is an annotated bibliography?
Annotated bibliographies provide basic bibliographic information in a standard style of documentation, as in a traditional bibliography or “works cited” page; the only difference is that each source is “annotated” with a statement about the text. This statement can range in length from 150-250 words and should provide insight into your primary source(s).
What are the benefits of an annotated bibliography?
There are several benefits to creating an annotated bibliography: for one, an annotated bibliography essentially functions as a “go-to” sheet of sources that you’ve used, the info that each source contains, and a ready-made bibliographic citation. Moreover, writing an annotated bibliography helps develop critical thinking and writing skills because you are distilling the source’s key points. In other words, writing an annotated bibliography requires more than just receiving information but actively analyzing the source’s argument and how the information is presented to you. Key skills such as paraphrasing are essential when writing an annotated bibliography!
What information should an annotation contain?
A basic annotation will include a bibliographic citation and an overview of the source’s contents. Provide the author’s thesis statement, main points, evidence supporting main points, and conclusion, and how this information is organized and presented to the reader. Report if the author uses any visual evidence (charts, graphs, photographs, etc.) and if those are relevant to the overall argument. When writing your annotation, avoid including direct quotes from the source; the annotation should be written in your own words and demonstrate your own understanding of the source’s information.
Some annotations are evaluative, meaning that the annotation will offer an assessment of the source’s information, argument, targeted audience, or relevance to certain topics. An evaluative annotation helps you decide which sources you will eventually include in your final project, aids in developing your own argument rather than repeating someone else’s argument, and helps prevent plagiarism.
Writing the annotation: some prompts to get you started.
It can seem intimidating to boil down a complex article or an entire book to 250 words so here are some questions that might help you organize your thoughts. As with any research project or paper, an annotated bibliography may undergo several drafts so the best place to start is just getting started!
Analyzing the argument
- What does the author want you to believe? What (or who) does the author seem to be responding to?
- What is the author’s main claim? What reasons and evidence support that claim? Can you determine the author’s methodology? Is there a theoretical approach underpinning their argument?
- What type of evidence is used in the article (statistics, field research, quotes)? What kind of visual information is used — charts, graphs, photographs, etc.
- Does the visual evidence add or detract to the argument?
- Does the author’s evidence support the claim? Does the conclusion make sense given the progression of the argument?
- Glance at the bibliography: what kinds of sources does your source use? (This is an excellent way to get an introduction/layout of a topic and its research history!)
Analyzing the source’s source: the author and the publisher
- Who is the author? Are they well-known in their field? Have they published on this topic before?
- If this is an article: it should be clear to your reader if the article comes from a newspaper or magazine or peer-reviewed journal; if necessary, look up the editorial guidelines for the newspaper/magazine/journal — usually found at the publisher’s website. This all helps you determine the context of your source and how the article’s argument and information fits in with the overall editorial philosophy of the source. For example, note the difference in descriptions for these two peer-reviewed journals: HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory and Journal of Contemporary Ethnography.
- Similarly, If the source is a book you may want to indicate if this book is a mainstream or academic publisher, any editorial guidelines or philosophy, or if the book is part of an ongoing series.
Determining the source’s relevance to your topic
- Who will benefit the most from this source: people looking for an introduction to the topic or specialists in the field, or somewhere in between?
- How will the information in this source relate to your own research project? Does it provide additional evidence to support your idea(s), offer a counter-argument, point you towards additional sources, or something else?
Resources
Research methods & primary sources
Brooklyn College Library
Annotated Bibliography Sources
Reading and Analyzing Sources
- Chapter 3, “A Tookit of Analytical Methods” from Writing Analytically, 5th edition by David Rosenwasser and Jill Stephens (PDF in Google Drive folder). This chapter contains some excellent practical tips and exercises designed to engage your critical thinking and writing skills.
- “How to Read a Book” by Paul N. Edwards (PDF in Google Drive folder). Short and thorough guide to reading for information and includes actionable tips that can be modified to reading any type of source.
- The Craft of Research, 3rd ed. by Wayne Booth, an excellent source that breaks down the research process into manageable steps and helps you develop your own argument, too. The link sends you to The Craft of Research available as an electronic resource from the Brooklyn College Library’s website.
Note: Before proceeding, it’s strongly suggested that students read the posts “Memory Makes the Best Artist” and “Part I: Writing About Dance – General Guidelines.”
This activity combines several short exercises: two that were introduced in the previous post “Memory Makes the Best Artist” called “Notice and Focus” and “10 on 1,” and a parts of a new exercise called “The Method,” all of which were adapted from the book Writing Analytically (5th ed.) by David Rosenwasser and Jill Stephen. These activities develop the tools of observation and analysis that are critical to analyzing works of art. With practice, students benefit by expanding the tools (strategies) in their tool box (range of skills) that will help them in any course, subject, or discipline.
Keep reading for instructions and the relevant pages from Writing Analytically.
This post aims to give students a starting point for writing about dance and other forms of art by offering guidelines and practical tips to help students when beginning a project or when finding themselves “stuck.” Accompanying the guidelines are excerpts of writings by dance critics and historians to help students “see” the guidelines in action and therefore better understand the benefits of the information in the post. Most importantly, with practice, students will become comfortable enough to modify the guidelines, tips, and activities to use when writing regardless of the assignment, subject, or discipline.
- Be a generous and objective observer in addition to being a good audience member.
- Describe what you see using specific examples so that your reader understands what you saw.
- Explain cause and effect to your reader.
Keep reading for more information about these guidelines as well as practical examples and tips to help you in the course. Part II contains a specific activity to help you practice putting these guidelines into action.
Read more
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Video Playlist: Choreographer Pina Bausch (1940-2009)
Useful Links
During our last class, Prof. Natov asked the class to freewrite in response to a quote and/or her prompt, a time when you were disturbed at work. After people shared their work, she asked “what details from other people’s stories do you remember?” The details that people remembered ranged from descriptions (cold metal contraption) to colors (red/yellow) and even direct quotes – all from quickly-written stories told to the class. Prof. Natov’s statement from that afternoon, “Memory makes the best artist,” draws attention to the impact made by including specific details. To your audience, these specific details allow them to “see” what you saw or “hear” what someone said to you a long time ago – some details add texture, literally (fuzzy, soft, hard, sharp) and metaphorically in that the story takes on new layers as the audience shifts from their own perspective to yours.
(Similarly, the Brooklyn-based comedian John Hodgeman says “Specificity is the soul of narrative” in pretty much every episode of his podcast “Judge John Hodgman.” His podcast consists of two people presenting their side of a mutual conflict – about everyday things like furniture choices, whether or not to buy riding lawn mowers, etc. – to John Hodgman and he issues a ruling about what they can do to solve their conflict. As the guests tell their side of the story, they are very vague and he always interrupts to say fondly but sternly “SPECIFICITY IS THE SOUL OF NARRATIVE” so he can better understand them. It is VERY FUNNY so click here to listen: Judge John Hodgman)
Because we’ll be writing a lot this semester about ourselves and our responses to works of art viewed this semester, I thought that I’d share two activities from the book Writing Analytically by David Rosenwasser and Jill Stephen (5th edition, 2009), which are called Notice and Focus and 10 on 1. The activities are easy to do (and remember) and hopefully they will help you with your work in the class.
Read the rest of this post for some brief descriptions of the activities as well as an embedded PDF of the relevant pages in Writing Analytically.
Read more
What is an annotated bibliography?
Annotated bibliographies provide basic bibliographic information in a standard style of documentation, as in a traditional bibliography or “works cited” page; the only difference is that each source is “annotated” with a statement about the text. This statement can range in length from 150-250 words and should provide insight into your source.
What are the benefits of an annotated bibliography?
There are several benefits to creating an annotated bibliography: for one, an annotated bibliography essentially functions as a “go-to” sheet of sources that you’ve used, the info that each source contains, and a ready-made bibliographic citation. Moreover, writing an annotated bibliography helps develop critical thinking and writing skills because you are distilling the source’s key points. In other words, writing an annotated bibliography requires more than just receiving information but actively analyzing the source’s argument and how the information is presented to you. Key skills such as paraphrasing are essential when writing an annotated bibliography!
What information should an annotation contain?
A basic annotation will include a bibliographic citation and an overview of the source’s contents. Provide the author’s thesis statement, main points, evidence supporting main points, and conclusion, and how this information is organized and presented to the reader. Report if the author uses any visual evidence (charts, graphs, photographs, etc.) and if those are relevant to the overall argument. When writing your annotation, avoid including direct quotes from the source; the annotation should be written in your own words and demonstrate your own understanding of the source’s information.
Some annotations are evaluative, meaning that the annotation will offer an assessment of the source’s information, argument, targeted audience, or relevance to certain topics. An evaluative annotation helps you decide which sources you will eventually include in your final project, aids in developing your own argument rather than repeating someone else’s argument, and helps prevent plagiarism.
Writing the annotation: some prompts to get you started.
It can seem intimidating to boil down a complex article or an entire book to 250 words so here are some questions that might help you organize your thoughts. As with any research project or paper, an annotated bibliography may undergo several drafts so the best place to start is just getting started!
Analyzing the argument
- What does the author want you to believe? What (or who) does the author seem to be responding to?
- What is the author’s main claim? What reasons and evidence support that claim? Can you determine the author’s methodology? Is there a theoretical approach underpinning their argument?
- What type of evidence is used in the article (statistics, field research, quotes)? What kind of visual information is used — charts, graphs, photographs, etc.
- Does the visual evidence add or detract to the argument?
- Does the author’s evidence support the claim? Does the conclusion make sense given the progression of the argument?
- Glance at the bibliography: what kinds of sources does your source use? (This is an excellent way to get an introduction/layout of a topic and its research history!)
Analyzing the source’s source: the author and the publisher
- Who is the author? Are they well-known in their field? Have they published on this topic before?
- If this is an article: it should be clear to your reader if the article comes from a newspaper or magazine or peer-reviewed journal; if necessary, look up the editorial guidelines for the newspaper/magazine/journal — usually found at the publisher’s website. This all helps you determine the context of your source and how the article’s argument and information fits in with the overall editorial philosophy of the source. For example, note the difference in descriptions for these two peer-reviewed journals: HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory and Journal of Contemporary Ethnography.
- Similarly, If the source is a book you may want to indicate if this book is a mainstream or academic publisher, any editorial guidelines or philosophy, or if the book is part of an ongoing series.
Determining the source’s relevance to your topic
- Who will benefit the most from this source: people looking for an introduction to the topic or specialists in the field, or somewhere in between?
- How will the information in this source relate to your own research project? Does it provide additional evidence to support your idea(s), offer a counter-argument, point you towards additional sources, or something else?
Resources
Annotated Bibliography Sources
Reading and Analyzing Sources
This page contains resources created for the Seminar 2 taught by Prof. Karen Williams (Brooklyn College, Spring 2016):the PowerPoint (as embedded PDF file) used for a presentation about eportfolios and WordPress and then a compilation of digital/online resources that students could use for their research projects. All students were required to conduct an ethnographic study of a New York City neighborhood that would be presented as an eportfolio and archived at the Seminar 2 Encyclopedia. I’m very proud of the two groups from this class whose eportfolios about Brighton Beach and Downtown Brooklyn were chosen as “Featured Sites” for the Spring 2016 semester.
Seminar 2: Tech Day – Intro to WordPress
After soliciting student feedback about what they wanted to learn, I created a presentation that focused on the basics of eportfolios and introduction to WordPress in preparation for their own research eportfolios.
[gview file=”https://files.eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/5381/2016/02/16101158/Sem2_tech-day_24Feb2016.pdf”]
Seminar 2 Projects & WordPress Help
- Seminar 2 Encyclopedia This site showcases work done by MHC scholars in their second honors seminar, The Peopling of New York City. The project gives our students an important opportunity to conceptualize their material in unique and creative ways. Moreover, with the city as their classroom, the project allows them to present their work to an audience outside the school’s doors. Come see New York through their eyes.
- Eportfolios@Macaulay: Eportfolio or blog? – This page contains helpful information such as the function of an eportfolio, adding a post, and adding images and other media to your posts.
- WordPress Support – Get practical advice and tips for your questions about using the Eportfolio/WordPress system
- WPMadeSimple.org – Just like the site title says.
General Research and Citation
Mapping, Data, and Making Your Posts Look Awesome
- How to create a map and add it to your post
- Maps Marker Tutorial – “Maps Marker is a WordPress plugin that allows you to create a map with marked points of interest. You’ll see a menu item called Maps Marker on the left-hand side of the Dashboard. If you hover over or click this item, you’ll see the full submenu for Maps Marker.”
Online Tools for Collaboration, Creative Storytelling and Data Organization
- Twine – “Twine is an open-source tool for telling interactive, nonlinear stories.”
- RealTimeBoard | Video Introduction – “An endless digital whiteboard for teams to collaborate on projects.” Note: email Alexis for free access to RealTimeBoard
- Dipity -“Dipity allows users to create free timelines online.”
