{"id":2846,"date":"2015-07-20T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-07-21T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kibin.com\/blog\/?post_type=essay-writing-blog&p=2846"},"modified":"2021-08-24T09:17:57","modified_gmt":"2021-08-24T16:17:57","slug":"how-to-write-an-annotated-bibliography","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kibin.com\/essay-writing-blog\/how-to-write-an-annotated-bibliography\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Write an Annotated Bibliography That Works"},"content":{"rendered":"

Once upon a time there was a hard-working student who paid close attention to lectures, studied hard, and learned how to cite properly in both MLA and APA format.<\/p>\n

The sun shone brightly.<\/p>\n

Then one day a dark cloud overshadowed the world. A professor asked the student to write an annotated bibliography. The student grew pale.<\/p>\n

She thought she had mastered all things related to citation. She didn\u2019t want to learn how to write anything so terrible<\/em> sounding as an annotated bibliography<\/em>.<\/p>\n

She closed her eyes tightly and wished her fairy godmother would magically write the annotated bibliography for her.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will grant your wish\u2026.well, sorta,\u201d said the fairy godmother.  \u201cI will not write the annotated bibliography for you, but I will teach you how to write one, thus enabling you to use the skill in your future courses.\u201d<\/p>\n

She wrote this blog post to teach all students how to write an annotated bibliography that works.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What Is an Annotated Bibliography?<\/h2>\n

An annotated bibliography is simply a bibliography with annotations. Okay, that doesn\u2019t help much, does it?<\/p>\n

Really, though, that\u2019s all it is. You know how to write a Works Cited or Reference page, right? If you\u2019ve mastered this, the next step is to simply add the annotations.<\/p>\n

Annotations include a summary of the work, a critique of the author or credibility of the source, and a discussion of whether or not the source will be useful to your research.<\/p>\n

Why Write an Annotated Bibliography?<\/h2>\n

I\u2019m sure you\u2019re saying, \u201cGive me one good reason why I should write an annotated bibliography.\u201d I\u2019ll do better than that. I\u2019ll give you three!<\/p>\n

1.<\/strong> It\u2019s a course assignment. <\/b>If you want to do well in the course, you need to do it. Enough said.<\/p>\n

2<\/strong>. An annotated bibliography helps you become a better researcher. <\/b><\/p>\n

In order to write an annotated bibliography, you need to be able to summarize the source. This means you\u2019ll need to take the time to read it carefully. You can\u2019t just find a source and add it to the list without reading it.<\/p>\n

You also need to evaluate the source and decide whether or not it\u2019s credible<\/a> and whether or not it\u2019s useful. Doing so means you\u2019ll choose sources more carefully and actually search for useful information.<\/p>\n

No more picking the first few websites that show up on a Google search and trying to make them fit.<\/p>\n

3.<\/strong> An annotated bibliography saves you time.<\/b><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re writing a research paper with three sources, it\u2019s pretty easy to remember what you read in each source. If, on the other hand, you\u2019re writing a longer research paper and using 10 or more sources, it\u2019s not that easy.<\/p>\n

Imagine you\u2019re on page 5 of your research essay, and you remember reading the perfect quote about binge drinking in…um…well, you read it in one<\/i> of your sources, somewhere<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Unless you have some magic fairy dust to help remember everything you\u2019ve read, you\u2019ll likely spend 25 minutes looking for that perfect quote.<\/p>\n

Trust me, writing an annotated bibliography may seem like a major pain now, but once you see how much time it will save you, and once you see a good grade on your paper, you\u2019ll be happy you wrote it.<\/p>\n

Before You Begin Writing<\/h2>\n