An annotated bibliography is a list of citations to books, articles, and/or documents. Each citation is followed by a brief (usually about 150 words) descriptive and evaluative paragraph, the annotation. The purpose of the annotation is to inform the reader of the relevance, accuracy, and quality of the sources cited.
For the purposes of this extra credit assignment students are expected to do descriptive annotations which summarize the authors’ qualifications, research methods, and arguments. In addition, students should indicate what they think about the publication and what it allowed them to understand about the topic.
THE PROCESS
Creating an annotated bibliography calls for the application of a variety of intellectual skills: concise exposition, succinct analysis, and informed library research.
First, locate and record citations to books, periodicals, scholarly journals, and documents that may contain useful information and ideas on your topic. Briefly examine and review the actual items. Then choose two (2) works that provide a variety of perspectives on your topic.
Cite the book, article, or document using the ASA style.
Write a concise descriptive annotation of no more than 150 words for each of the five publications chosen. Publications must be presented in alphabetical order by authors’ last name.
MODIFIED ASA RULES FOR WRITING AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
The Publication Manual of the American Sociological Association (1997) states the following formatting rules:
All text should be double-spaced.
Reference list entries must have a hanging indent (to do this in Microsoft Word 2003, click Format, then Paragraph, then Special, and choose Hanging).
Use 12 point Times Roman font, or a similar serif font.
Each paragraph should be indented.
The reference list is alphabetical by authors’ last names.
When a work has more than one author, the name of the first author is inverted (Last name, First name). The names of additional authors are not inverted.
SAMPLE – FULL ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY ENTRY (JOURNAL WITH ONE AUTHOR)
Battle, Ken. 2007. “Child poverty: The evolution and impact of child benefits.” Pp. 21-44 in A Question of Commitment: Children’s Rights in Canada, edited by K. Covell and R. B. Howe. Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid Laurier University Press.
Ken Battle draws on his research as an extensively-published policy analyst, and a close study of some government documents, to explain child benefits in Canada. He outlines some fundamental assumptions supporting the belief that all society members should contribute to the upbringing of children. His comparison of Canadian child poverty rates to those in other countries provides a useful wake-up to anyone assuming Canadian society is doing a good job of protecting children from want. He pays particular attention to the National Child Benefit (NCB), arguing that it did not deserve the criticism it received from politicians and journalists. He outlines the NCB’s development, costs, and benefits, including its dollar contribution to a typical recipient’s income. He laments that the Conservative government scaled back the program in favour of the Universal Child Care Benefit (UCCB), and clearly explains why it is inferior. However, Battle relies too heavily on his own work; he is the sole or primary author of almost half the sources in his bibliography. He could make this work stronger by drawing from the perspectives of others’ analyses. However, Battle does offer a valuable source for this essay, because the chapter provides a concise overview of government-funded assistance currently available to parents. This offers context for analyzing the scope and financial reality of child poverty in Canada.
SAMPLE – START OF ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY ENTRY (JOURNAL WITH MULTIPLE AUTHORS)
Kerr, Don and Roderic Beaujot. 2003. “Child Poverty and Family Structure in Canada, 1981-1997.” Journal of Comparative Family Studies 34(3):321-335.
SAMPLE – START OF ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY ENTRY (BOOK WITH ONE AUTHOR)
Mason, Karen. 1974. Women’s Labor Force Participation. Research Triangle Park, NC: National Institutes of Health
NOTE – Author’s full name, inverted so that last name appears first, then the Year of the book, then the book Title in Title Caps and Italicized, then Publishing City and Publisher. In addition, two-letter state abbreviation should be given only if needed to identify the city. For a publisher located in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, or Boston, for example, it would not be necessary to include the state abbreviation.
SAMPLE – START OF ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY ENTRY (BOOK WITH MULTIPLE AUTHORS)
Corbin, Juliet, and Anselm Strauss. 2008. Basics of Qualitative Research. 3rd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
NOTE – This is the same as with one author, but do not invert authors’ names after the first author. Separate authors’ names with a comma, and include the word and before the final author. In addition, note that the word “edition” is abbreviated, and not italicized or capitalized.