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MUS 590: Introduction to Research Methods

Resources for students in MUS 590.

Annotated bibliographies are a common type of academic assignment and a useful research practice. They are composed of two essential parts: a properly formatted citation and a paragraph that summarizes and evaluates the resource. 

The two parts of the annotated bibliography are equally important because they practice critical research skills, such as learning formatting rules and reading resources critically. They are also a great way to stay organized when working on a large research project, because they not only keep a record of what resources were consulted during the project, but also a summary of each resource and how those resources relate to the project at hand.

As with any assignment, carefully read the instructions from your professor so that you know the exact formatting style that you need to use, how long the annotations must be, and what each annotation must include.

What is an Annotated Bibliography?

An annotated bibliography is a helpful document that lists sources and provides an analytical summary about each source. It is arranged exactly like a Works Cited or References page.

An annotated bibliography offers you the opportunity to--

  • Summarize each source to understand its main ideas
  • Evaluate each source's credentials to determine its accuracy, quality, and relevance.
  • Reflect how each source will contribute to your research project.

Provided by the NSU Writing Center

Steps to Begin an Annotated Bibliography

  • As you begin locating sources for our research paper, keep track of publication details for each source.
  • Write your analytical summary in paragraph from, present tense, and third person.
  • As you draft your analytical summary for each source, state the main ideas and key points briefly.
  • Include an evaluation of the source's role and usefulness such as strengths and limitations in your research project.
  • The length of annotation usually runs between 100-200 words; however, check with your professors for their preferences.
  • Title your list of sources with annotations as: Annotated Bibliography.

Provided by the NSU Writing Center

Types of Annotations

Summary annotations

There are two kinds of summarizing annotations, informative and indicative.

Summarizing annotations in general have a couple of defining features:

  • They sum up the content of the source, as a book report might.
  • They give an overview of the arguments and proofs/evidence addressed in the work and note the resulting conclusion.
  • They do not judge the work they are discussing. Leave that to the critical/evaluative annotations.
  • When appropriate, they describe the author’s methodology or approach to material. For instance, you might mention if the source is an ethnography or if the author employs a particular kind of theory.

Informative annotation

Informative annotations sometimes read like straight summaries of the source material, but they often spend a little more time summarizing relevant information about the author or the work itself.

Indicative annotation

Indicative annotation is the second type of summary annotation, but it does not attempt to include actual information from the argument itself. Instead, it gives general information about what kinds of questions or issues are addressed by the work. This sometimes includes the use of chapter titles.

Critical/evaluative

Evaluative annotations do more than summarize. In addition to the points addressed in summary annotations, evaluative annotations:

  • evaluate the source or author critically (biases, lack of evidence, objective, etc.).
  • show how the work may or may not be useful for a particular field of study or audience.
  • explain how researching this material assisted your own project.

Combination

An annotated bibliography may combine elements of all the types. Most of them fall into this category: a little summarizing and describing, a little evaluation.

From: Annotated Bibliographies

More Annotated Bibliography Resources