Annotated Bibliographies
What We’ll Cover
 The Annotated Bibliography Assignment
 Determining Credible Sources
 Putting Together the Annotated Bibliography
 Summarizing Tips and Examples
 Annotated Bibliography Examples
 In-Class Exercises
The Annotated Bibliography
Assignment
The Annotated Bibliography Assignment
 Collect ten sources related to your topic


At least three sources found using a database or databases on the
library’s website
At least one peer-reviewed (academic) journal


Many, but not all, articles found in the library databases. Be careful 
At least one hard copy source
Book, journal, records of information (not LPs), etc.
 Journal article found on one of the library databases



You can use articles from websites as long as you can prove they are
viable, credible sources
No sources under 500 words

But these sources can be used in your research paper
 Sources should provide a variety of perspectives on
your issue
 Exceptions . . .
The Annotated Bibliography Assignment (cont.)
 List sources alphabetically by last name and
using MLA works cited format

We’ll cover this Monday
 Summarize article
 Assess article
 Explain how you may use article in your paper
 Include one quote from each article
Determining Credible Sources
Determining Credible Sources:
Author
 Determine if author is credible
 Does the article provide a brief bio
 Can you Google information about the person
 Determine if author has a position on the issue
 Does the author’s stance effect the information he/she is
providing?
If so, can you still use information?
 If so, how will acknowledge or integrate biases?


Is the information fact, opinion, or propaganda?
Are there broad sweeping generalizations?
 Is there information with no evidence to back it up?
 Is the argument one-sided or does it provide a variety of
viewpoints?

Determining Credible Sources:
Publisher
 Determine is publisher is a credible source
 Do they have long history?
 Do other professionals refer to their publication?
 Determine if publisher has a position on the issue
 NRA sources vs. The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence sources
 Both may have good information, but how will you account for
their perspectives?
 Sometimes the bias isn’t as a clear.

Can you determine a bias based on tone, words, or phrases and
how they are affecting the presentation of information?
Determining Credible Sources:
Information
 Is information still relevant or is out of date?
 Determine accuracy

What sources does the author use?


Are they credible?
Does the author have a Works Cited section?
If not, how does this affect the credibility of information and article?
 If there is a Works Cited section:
 Are they credible looking
 Can you find additional useful sources for your research?

 Cross check information in article.


Can you find similar information elsewhere?
Can you find original source of information?

Is everybody referring to the same source, but the source doesn’t
exist? (This happens often on the internet.)
Determining Credible Sources:
Information (cont.)
 Length and Depth
 Is the article long enough to have depth and to contribute
anything new to the issue?
If it does, then great 
 If it’s 500 words or fewer, then you can’t use it for the
annotated bibliography
 But you can use it for the research paper.


Is it too long?
Do you have time to read a whole book for this assignment?
 Is better to just read the most relevant chapters?

Determining Credible Sources:
Information (cont.)
 Books
 Preface
What does the author want to accomplish?
 This will give you an overview of the book


Table of Contents and Index
This will give you an overview of the book
 From here, you can determine if you topic is covered in depth
 If you can’t find your topic, try looking using synonyms for your
topic

Determining Credible Sources:
Information (cont.)
 General and Specialized Sources

General: Scientific America
This is good for overviews and general information about
scientific topics, and it might be a very good starting place for some
science issues.
 This might give you a basic understanding of quantum physics.


Specialized: American Journal of Physics
This is a good source for more detailed information of a specific
physics issues.
 This might give you information about the impact of quantum
chromodynamics and light-cone quantum mechanics on nuclear
physics.

 Determine audience of article.

Will the language of this article be effective in your research paper?
Using Credible Sources
 Is there a good mix of primary and secondary
sources?
 Primary sources


Primary research is any type of research that you go out and
collect yourself.
Surveys, interviews, and observations
 You may not have primary sources depending on
your issue
 If your issue is of local concern, you may need
primary sources
Using Credible Sources:
Primary Sources
 Primary Sources (cont.)
 To determine if you need primary sources, ask yourself:
What do I want to discover?
 How do I plan on discovering it?
 The answer to this question is referred to as “research methods”
or “methodology.”
 Who will I interview/observe/survey?
 (Who are your subjects or participants?)
 How can gain access to a person or group of people?
 Do I have biases on this topic?
 What are they?
 How can I keep my biases out of research methods?
 What do I expect to discover?

Using Credible Sources:
Secondary Sources
 Secondary Sources
 Journals
 Magazines
 Documentaries
 News broadcasts
 Talk shows
 Newspapers
 Books
 The text gives additional information about
evaluating sources
Credible Sources: Recap
 You will need:
 A credible author
 A credible publisher
 Accuracy



Cross check
Generalized or specialized sources
Primary and secondary sources
Putting Together
The Annotated Bibliography
1. Summary
 After you read the article and determine if the
source is worth using, then do three things:

One: Write a summary of the article.
Note the thesis or argument.
 Note the main supporting arguments, especially ones relating
to your research.
 Be succinct.
 In your research paper, you will need to be succinct when
summarizing an article.
 Do not dwell on details or too much description.
 Assess the article as a whole.
 Is it effective and credible

2. How You Will Use Source
 After you read the article and determine if the
source is worth using, then do three things:

Two: Write one paragraph describing how you might use
this article in your research paper.
Point out valuable and insightful information.
 Point out how that information will help your argument.
 Get directly to the point of relevancy.
 Contrary sources:
 Find sources that disagree with your perspective.
 Indicate what is significant about their perspective and how it
made you reexamine your perspective.
 Include the information that you might use in your research
paper and how you will use it.
 Reflect on how an article can be useful

3. Include Quote
 After you read the article and determine if the
source is worth using, then do three things:

Three: Include at least one quote and how it will be useful
to your argument.
Putting Together the Annotated Bibliography:
RECAP
 For each entry:
 Write summary of the article.


Write one paragraph describing how you might use this
article in your research paper.


Summarize and assess the article.
Reflect on its useful to your project.
Include at least one quote and how it will be useful to your
argument.
Summarizing Tips
and Examples
Four Tips to Summarizing an Article
1. Reread the original passage until you
understand its full meaning.
2. Set the original aside and write your
paraphrase on a note card.
3. Check your rendition with the original to make
sure that your version accurately expresses all the
essential information in a new form.
4. Use quotation marks to identify any unique
term or phraseology you have borrowed exactly
from the source.
Paraphrasing Example
Original:
Students frequently overuse direct quotation in taking
notes, and as a result they overuse quotations in the
final [research] paper. Probably only about 10% of
your final manuscript should appear as directly quoted
matter. Therefore, you should strive to limit the
amount of exact transcribing of source materials while
taking notes. Lester, James D. Writing Research
Papers. 2nd ed. (1976): 46-47.
Paraphrasing Example (cont.)
Legitimate Paraphrase:
In research papers, students often quote excessively,
failing to keep quoted material down to a desirable
level. Since the problem usually originates during note
taking, it is essential to minimize the material recorded
verbatim (Lester 46-47).
Acceptable Summary:
Students should take just a few notes in direct
quotation from sources to help minimize the amount
of quoted material in a research paper (Lester 46-47).
More Helpful Tips: Note Cards
 Use notecard to keep track of sources
 Record the source (including the page number) on your
note card so that you can credit it easily if you decide to
incorporate the material into your paper.
 Write down your paraphrase
 Jot down a few words below your paraphrase to remind you
later how you envision using this material.

At the top of the note card, write a keyword or phrase to indicate
the subject of your paraphrase.
Annotated Bibliography
Examples
Annotated Bibliography: What to Include Recap
 List sources alphabetically by last name and
using MLA works cited format

We’ll cover this Monday
 Summarize article
 Assess article
 Explain how you may use article in your paper
 Include one quote from each article and how you’ll use it
Annotated Bibliography: Example One
Lamott, Anne. Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. New York: Anchor
Books, 1995. Print.
Lamott’s book offers honest advice on the nature of a writing life, complete with
its insecurities and failures. Taking a humorous approach to the realities of being a writer,
the chapters in Lamott’s book are wry and anecdotal and offer advice on everything from
plot development to jealousy, from perfectionism to struggling with one’s own internal critic.
In the process, Lamott includes writing exercises designed to be both productive and fun.
Lamott offers sane advice for those struggling with the anxieties of writing, but her main
project seems to be offering the reader a reality check regarding writing, publishing, and
struggling with one’s own imperfect humanity in the process. Rather than a practical
handbook to producing and/or publishing, this text is indispensable because of its honest
perspective, its down-to-earth humor, and its encouraging approach.
Chapters in this text could easily be included in my curriculum for a writing class.
Several of the chapters in Part 1 address the writing process and would serve to generate
discussion for my students’ own drafting and revising processes. Some of the writing
exercises would also be appropriate for generating classroom writing exercises. Students
should find Lamott’s style both engaging and enjoyable.
Annotated Bibliography: Example Two
Dubose, Mike S. “Holding Out for a Hero: Reaganism, Comic Book Vigilantes,
and Captain America.” Journal of Popular Culture 40.6 (2007): 915-935.
Academic Search Premier. Web. 12 Nov. 2008.
This article examines a sampling of super-heroes as they appeared in
the 1980s and analyzes how they function as emblems of heroism in American
popular culture. To accomplish this, the article first investigates the
“intersections between morality, politics and conceptions of justice” particular
to that decade in order to define the nature of lawful and vigilante heroes
(916). Secondly, it uses an analysis of Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns
and Alan Moore’s Watchmen to demonstrate two ways that the vigilante hero
exists in relation to the current state of affairs. And thirdly, it looks at the
portrayal of World War II hero Captain America in the Reagan-era, and how
hero-status necessitated the definition of “oneself as an entity separate from
the powers that be” and a transcendence of “traditional notions of law, order,
and justice” (916). Essentially, it is found that superheroes in the eighties do
not earn hero status through individual heroic actions as much as their feats
are labeled as heroic in relation to systems of belief in order and justice, as
opposed to a strict moral code.
Annotated Bibliography: Example Two (Cont.)
Dubose, Mike S. “Holding Out for a Hero: Reaganism, Comic Book Vigilantes,
and Captain America.” Journal of Popular Culture 40.6 (2007): 915-935.
Academic Search Premier. Web. 12 Nov. 2008.
At the time of publication, Mike S. Dubose was a lecturer in the
Department of English at the University of Toledo. His scholarship involves
the “intersections of popular culture and dominant political identities in the
80s” (935). Appearing in a peer-reviewed academic journal, this scholarly
article is well-researched with many examples cited, and the synthesis of ideas
is well-thought out in terms of the relationship between comic book heroes
and political ideologies of that decade. Dubose does a good job of covering the
vigilante comic book hero by citing some of the more well-known examples,
but the impossibility of covering every hero, in every permutation doesn’t
undermine his argument. He sticks to major trends in both comic books and
politics, and the result is an argument that offers an examination and analysis
of those trends.
Annotated Bibliography: Example Two (Cont.)
Dubose, Mike S. “Holding Out for a Hero: Reaganism, Comic Book Vigilantes,
and Captain America.” Journal of Popular Culture 40.6 (2007): 915-935.
Academic Search Premier. Web. 12 Nov. 2008.
This will be a helpful resource for my project. It’s
scholarly and credible, and full of good data for me to
incorporate into my own argument. I will probably stick
mostly to the parts where Dubose talks about Captain
America in the eighties, but some of his other data about
Daredevil and Batman might prove useful early on in my
project to help me establish for the reader the relationship
between popular culture icons and political ideology as it
appears in cultural studies scholarship.
Keys to Successful Annotation
 Summarize
 Assess
 Reflect
 And for you assignment
 Include one quote and how you will use it
In-Class Exercises
In-Class Exercises
 Romantic Circles (http://www.rc.umd.edu)
 Anne’s Anti-Quackery and Science Blog
(http://amr2you.blogspot.com/)
 NewsBusters (http://www.newsbusters.org/)
 Bits (http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/)