The Annotated Bibliography

MAKING YOUR Annotated Bibliography

An annotated bibliography is a list of all the sources you used, properly cited using MLA Style, separated by primary and secondary--and includes details on how the source was used and how it helped you understand your topic.

An Annotated Bibliography is required! Not having a bibliography where you list your research and credit your sources is committing plagiarism.

You will look at many more sources than you actually use. You should list only those sources that contributed to the development of your entry. Sources of visual materials and oral interviews must be included. The annotations for each source must explain how the source was used and how it helped you understand your topic.

How to build your Annotated Bibliography

Citations

Put “Annotated Bibliography” centered at the top.
Separate your sources into “Primary Sources” and “Secondary Sources”
Use MLA format (use the Citation Helper to help you).
List the sources in alphabetical order under these headings.
List by the authors or photographers last name.
(If unknown, list of the first word in the title of the source)

Technical Details

Use 1 inch margins, 12 point font
Single space the citation and double space between each citation
If a citation continues onto the next page, move the whole citation to that page.

How to annotate your citations

Annotations in Citations: (Describing your work)

Briefly annotate your source underneath each citation. Be sure to write in complete sentences.
An annotation normally should be about 2-4 sentences long and answer the following questions for each source.
- What type of source it is and what information was used from the source? (include details about possible bias of the author and historical context)
- How did you use the source in your project and how did the source support your thesis?

What should it look like?

EXAMPLE:
Bates, Daisy. The Long Shadow of Little Rock. 1st ed. New York: David McKay Co. Inc., 1962.
Daisy Bates was the president of the Arkansas NAACP and the one who met and listened to the students each day. This first-hand account was very important to my paper because it made me more aware of the feelings of the people involved.

Actual Salk Student Annotated Bibliography (GROUP PROJECT)
Notice how it looks, how it's organized, and how many sources are in there.

Actual Salk Student Annotated Bibliography #2 (iNDIVIDUAL PROJECT)
Notice how it looks, how it's organized, and how many sources are in there.

Crediting Photos and graphics for exhibits & websites

Photo Credits--Exhibits and Websites

You should make a separate section of your bibliography.
List as “Photo Credits” and alphabetize (no annotations needed!)
A GREAT handout that explains this really well (click here)

CREDITS FOR documentaries

At the conclusion of the documentary, you must provide a list of acknowledgments and credits for ALL sources.
These credits should be brief—not full bibliographic citations and not annotated. See example below.
You are not required to credit individual images or video clips while the documentary is playing; that is the purpose of the credits at the end.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

HOW MANY SOURCES SHOULD I HAVE IN MY ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY?

I THINK IT'S PRIMARY BUT SOMEBODY ELSE SAYS SECONDARY. WHAT DO I DO?

I FOUND A PRIMARY SOURCE INSIDE OF A SECONDARY SOURCE...WHAT DO I DO?

We can't tell you a specific number of sources, as that will vary by the topic and by the resources to which you have reasonable access. For some topics, such as the Civil War or many 20th-century U.S. topics, there are many sources available to you. For other topics, such as those in ancient history or non-U.S. history, there likely are far fewer sources available to you. The more good sources you have, the better, but don't pad your bibliography. Only list items which you actually use; if you looked at a source but it didn't help you at all, don't list it in your bibliography.

You should use the annotation to explain why you categorized a particular source as primary or secondary, If that is likely to be at all controversial. Historians do sometimes disagree and there's not always one right answer, so justify your choice to the judges. There's a really good link for some of the more challenging things to cite if you click this sentence.

You also may use the annotation to explain that a book or other secondary source included several primary sources used for the paper. Examples: "This book included three letters between person X on the frontier and person Y back in New England, which provided insight into the struggles and experiences of the settlers." "This book provided four photos of settlers on the Great Plains and their homes, which were used on the exhibit."