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Creating an Annotated Bibliography

An annotated bibliography contains both the MLA citation information and a few sentences of your own, describing the source and what you found in it. Here are some tips for putting together the description.

* Summarizing

– What type of document is the source?

– What specific information, details, and/or points of view does the source provide?

– What are the subject, audience, and/or purpose of the source?

– What does the source directly tell us?

* Author

– Who created the source?

– What do you know about the author?

– What is the author’s point of view?

* Place and Time

– Where and when was the source produced?

– How might this affect the meaning of the source?

* Prior Knowledge

– Beyond information about the author and the context of its creation, what do you know that

would help you further understand the primary source?

* Audience

– For whom was the source created and how might this affect the reliability of the source?

* Reason

– Why was this source produced at the time it was produced?

* Significance

– Why is this source important?

– What inferences can you draw from this document?

– Ask yourself, “So What?” in relation to the question asked.

* Corroboration

– What similarities and differences exist among the sources?

– What factors could account for the similarities and differences?

– What gaps appear to exist that hinder the final interpretation of the source?

* Citing

– What parts of this source would you use as evidence to support or refute your interpretation?

– How would you let your audience know that you took this passage from the source?