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Communications: Annotated Bibliography

Annotated Bibliographies

If you are unfamiliar with Annotated Bibliographies this page has information to help get you started.

If you need help formatting or creating your assignment, contact a librarian.

Annotated bibliography infographic

What is an Annotated Bibliography?

Provided by: James A. Gibson Library, Brock University

Sample annotated bibliographies

More Information

BENEFITS?

  • Centralizes your research into one document; you won't lose any of your sources
  • If you've cited your sources correctly, you can copy/paste the citations in your bibliography to your research paper
  • Allows you to start thinking about how your sources will fit together, in other words, how your resources talk with one another in your research paper

HOW TO CREATE AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY?

  1. Collect sources based on your topic
  2. Review each item and choose the sources that offer the best variety of perspectives on your topic
  3. Cite the 5 sources you have selected in MLA citation style
  4. Write a 4-6 sentence summary paragraph (approximately 150 words) for each of the 5 sources listed

WHAT MIGHT BE INCLUDED IN EACH SUMMARY PARAGRAPH? 
A combination of the information suggested below might be included in your informative summary annotations.

  • Main focus or scope of the work - source perspective
  • Intended audience of the work
  • Usefulness and relevance to your research topic - why it did or did not meet your expectations
  • Unique and helpful aspects of the work
  • Compare it to another source you are using
  • Any biases in the work
  • Background and credibility of the author
  • Conclusions/observations reached by the author
  • Your conclusions
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