An annotated bibliography is a list of your sources — read to date or credited in your final paper — that includes a short summary or annotation for each entry. This common assignment quickly informs a reader about the direction of your research. It also shows your mastery of two major research skills: identifying a source and writing a summary.

To develop an annotated bibliography, find out which format you are expected to use to identify sources and what your annotations should do — summarize only, add evaluation, or meet a special requirement (such as interpretation). A summary is a brief, neutral explanation in your own words of the source’s thesis or main points. In contrast, an evaluation is a judgment of the source’s accuracy, reliability, or relevance.

Summary with Source Identification and Proposed Use. Several drafts of Schyler Martin’s annotated bibliography were due as he identified possible sources for his MLA-style essay, “Does Education Improve Social Ills in Native American Communities?” He identified each source as primary (a firsthand or eyewitness account) or secondary (a secondhand analysis based on primary material), summarized it, and described how he expected it to support his position.

Loew, Patty. Indian Nations of Wisconsin: Histories of Endurance and Renewal. Madison: Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2001. Print.

Secondary source. Professor Loew, a member of the Ojibwe tribe, presents Wisconsin history from a Native point of view. I will be using Loew’s interviews to support my claims of education changing lives.

Wildcat, Daniel R. “Practical Professional Indigenous Education.” Power and Place: Indian Education in America. Comp. Vine Deloria, Jr., and Daniel R. Wildcat. Golden: Fulcrum, 2001. 113-21. Print.

Secondary source. This book compares and contrasts the “Western” idea of education with Native American beliefs, showing where the “holes” are in today’s educational policies. I will use Wildcat’s chapter to demonstrate the argument of education only being useful when it is applied.

For her history paper, Shari O’Malley summed up relevance:

Goodman, Phil. “Patriotic Femininity: Women’s Morals and Men’s Morale During the Second World War.” Gender & History 10.2 (1998): 278-93. Print.

Goodman examines British attitudes about women replacing men in the workplace and related wartime issues.

Summary with Evaluation. As Stephanie Hawkins worked on the annotated bibliography for her APA-style paper “Japanese: Linguistic Diversity,” she wanted to show her critical thinking. Besides summarizing her sources, she evaluated their contributions, relationships, or usefulness to her study.

Abe, H. N. (1995). From stereotype to context: The study of Japanese women’s speech. Feminist Studies, 21(3), 647-671.

Abe discusses the roots of Japanese women’s language, beginning in ancient Japan and continuing into modern times. I was able to use this peer-reviewed article to expand on the format of women’s language and the consequences of its use.

Kristof, N. (1995, September 24). On language: Too polite for words. New York Times Magazine, pp. SM22-SM23.

Kristof, a regular columnist for the New York Times Magazine, briefly describes the use of honorifics as an outlet for sarcasm and insults. Although the article discusses cultures other than Japanese, it provides insight into the polite vulgarity of the Japanese language.

Summary with Interpretation. Often an annotated bibliography includes unfamiliar materials, and your readers can benefit from extra explanation, background, or context. Examples include primary sources, interviews, oral histories, music, images, artistic works, texts from other times or cultures, or translations. In such cases, you may want to summarize the source and also interpret it for your readers, as this MLA-style entry and annotation illustrates.

Virginia Slims Lights. Advertisement. Family Circle. 26 Dec. 1985: 34–35. Print.

This advertisement for cigarettes, one of five in this issue of a popular women’s magazine, illustrates how advertisers appealed to women smokers during this era. The ad’s heading, “Introducing the LONGEST Slims of all,” runs across two pages with a long-legged woman smoker lying on her side, also stretched across both pages. She is dressed not in alluring evening wear but in a blue-flowered sweater and woolly gold slacks. Both her attire and her wholesome look suit the issue’s date and holiday features which include read-aloud stories, cookie recipes, and holiday decorating. Her head is thrown back and she smiles, holding her cigarette, which apparently promises enjoyment and relaxation at a busy time of the year for the magazine’s readers.