MENG 585/585D (Graduate-Faculty Seminar)

What's an annotated bibliography and why should I care?

An annotated bibliography is a list of sources that you have found which you plan to use in your research assignment. These sources can be anything from books to articles to streaming media and more. The purpose of an annotated bibliography is to get you to start thinking about your research early. Use the CRAAP Test to help you write your summary and evaluation/reflection. If you do a good job on your annotated bibliography, you may be able to use parts of it in your final research paper.

An annotated bibliography is made up of three distinct parts:

1. Citation: This is how you will cite your source in your final paper. The style (APA, MLA, Chicago, or another style) may vary, so be sure you are using the correct one.
2. Summary: A brief (about 150 words) explanation of the source, in standard paragraph form.
3. Evaluation/Reflection: A brief discussion on why you think the source will be useful in your research (if you don't think it will be useful, be sure to explain why), in standard paragraph form.

When you turn in your final assignment, make sure that your Works Cited or References page only lists the citation; you don't want to include your summary or reflection on your sources in your final product.

Check out the tutorial below for a brief explanation and overview of annotated bibliographies (please sign in if prompted; the tutorial is ungraded).