Pick any topic to write about a annotated bibliography

 

Sources should be scholarly sources 

 

The annotated bibliography asks you to submit an annotated bibliography that lists between 5 and 7 sources. The research you include in this piece should show that you have considered your topic from different angles, including those with which you may disagree.  

While your citations and annotations should follow MLA guidelines, your annotated bibliography should NOT be double spaced. This is in contrast to your works cited.

 

DESCRIPTION: Annotated Bibliographies

What is it?

Adapted from the OWL at Purdue (https://owl.english.purdue.edu/).

Contributors: Dana Bisignani, Allen Brizee.

 

A bibliography is a list of sources (books, journals, Web sites, periodicals, etc.) that a writer has used for researching a topic. Bibliographies are sometimes called "References" or "Works Cited" depending on the style format you are using. A bibliography usually just includes the bibliographic information (i.e., the author, title, publisher, etc.).

An annotation is a summary and/or evaluation. Therefore, an annotated bibliography includes a summary and evaluation of each of the sources. In general, annotations may do one or more of the following (your assignment will ask you do do all three):

• Summarize: Some annotations merely summarize the source. What are the main arguments? What is the point of this book or article? What topics are covered? If someone asked what this article/book is about, what would you say? The length of your annotations will determine how detailed your summary is.
• Assess: After summarizing a source, it may be helpful to evaluate it. Is it a useful source? How does it compare with other sources in your bibliography? Is the information reliable? What is the goal of this source?
• Reflect: Once you've summarized and assessed a source, you need to ask how it fits into your research. Was this source helpful to you? How does it help you shape your argument? How can you use this source in your research project? Has it changed how you think about your topic?

Why should I write an annotated bibliography?

To learn about your topic: Writing an annotated bibliography is excellent preparation for a research project. Just collecting sources for a bibliography is useful, but when you have to write annotations for each source, you're forced to read each source more carefully. You begin to read more critically instead of just collecting information. At the professional level, annotated bibliographies allow you to see what has been done in the literature and where your own research or scholarship can fit. To help you formulate a thesis: Every good research paper is an argument. The purpose of research is to state and support a thesis. So a very important part of research is developing a thesis that is debatable, interesting, and current. Writing an annotated bibliography can help you gain a good perspective on what is being said about your topic. By reading and responding to a variety of sources on a topic, you'll start to see what the issues are, what people are arguing about, and you'll then be able to develop your own point of view.

To help other researchers: Extensive and scholarly annotated bibliographies are sometimes published. They provide a comprehensive overview of everything important that has been and is being said about that topic. You may not ever get your annotated bibliography published, but as a researcher, you might want to look for one that has been published about your topic.

 

Format

The bibliographic information: the bibliographic information of the source (the title, author, publisher, date, etc.) will be written in MLA format for this assignment. Remember, you have an overview of these requirements on the assignment sheet for Paper #2 - Researched Argument. Additionally, you have access to MLA 9's formatting guidelines through the Online Writing Lab at Purdue University here. 

The annotations: The annotations for each source are written in paragraph form. The lengths of the annotations can vary significantly from a couple of sentences to a couple of pages. The length will depend on the purpose. If you're just writing summaries of your sources, the annotations may not be very long. However, if you are writing an extensive analysis of each source, you'll need more space.

You can focus your annotations for your own needs. A few sentences of general summary followed by several sentences of how you can fit the work into your larger paper or project can serve you well when you go to draft.

EXAMPLES: Annotated Bibliography Structure
 

Holland, Suzanne. The Human Embryonic Stem Cell Debate: Science, Ethics, and Public Policy. Boston, MIT Press, 2001.

If one were really writing an annotation for this source, one would offer a brief summary of what this book says about stem cell research.

After a brief summary, it would be appropriate to assess this source and offer some criticisms of it. Does it seem like a reliable and current source? Why? Is the research biased or objective? Are the facts well documented? Who is the author? Is she qualified in this subject? Is this source scholarly, popular, some of both?

The length of your annotation will depend on the assignment or on the purpose of your annotated bibliography. After summarizing and assessing, you can now reflect on this source. How does it fit into your research? Is this a helpful resource? Too scholarly? Not scholarly enough? Too general/specific? Since "stem cell research" is a very broad topic, has this source helped you to narrow your topic?

Annotated Bibliography (Sample)
 

Bhandari, Aarushi. "Taylor Swift's Eras Tour is a Potent Reminder that the Internet is Not Real Life." The Conversation,  4 Aug. 2023, https://theconversation.com/taylor-swifts-eras-tour-is-a-potent-reminder-that-the-internet-is-not-real-life-209325. Accessed 15 Aug. 2023.

Bhandari's article is a journalistic piece that highlights how online narratives, fueled by a vocal minority of users, can create false perceptions of reality. She argues that social media algorithms often prioritize engagement over meaningful issues, which can, therefore, impact search results and the public's understanding of collective reality. Bhandari draws on her experience with the online rumors about Taylor Swift's dating life and the Bernie Sanders allegedly "toxic" campaign as anecdotal examples to illustrate how online narratives may amplify distortions of reality. Bhandari analyzes these examples through the lens of Jakob Neilson's "90-9-1 rule" to assert that most users merely observe online conversations, while a minority of users generate the posts which drive them. She concludes that media outlets often create narratives about collective reality based on these online discourse, which are then prioritized by social media algorithms, leading to the potential distortion of public sentiments.  

In this piece, Bhandari gives her readers an intimate view of her own subject position to demonstrate how effectively algorithms can amplify mis- or disinformation and spread inaccurate information. While much of her piece focuses on her experience through anecdotes about her role as a Swift fan and Sanders campaign volunteer, she grounds her analysis in journalistic sources and peer-reviewed research and offers a helpful introduction to Neilson's 90-9-1 rule. Bhandari's credentials as a sociology professor who has published on this topic in peer-reviewed journals speak to her ability to comment on this topic effectively.

Because my paper analyzes how internet algorithms invite readers to spread misinformation, Bhandari's piece offers a helpful way to introduce my readers to the consequences of this phenomenon. While I will be relying on peer-reviewed sources to support my overall argument, Bhandari's article gives me a way to demonstrate how online narratives impact a variety of social and political contexts. This piece also provides a helpful, if short, list of sources to consult for my own research, specifically information about Neilson's 90-9-1 rule. 

 

(This sample is based on a hypothetical paper whose topic is the spread of mis- and disinformation online)

 

Notice that the writer includes three points in their annotation:

 

• A summary of the main ideas of the source;
• An assessment or evaluation of the text;
• A reflection on its applicability to the research at hand.