Annotated Bibliography

Write in full sentences 

Use objective and factual language

Reporting verbs like “they issued” or “he concludes” can be useful for the summary of content and argument.

Use the third-person and present historic tense throughout - eg “the report identifies significant events leading up to the crisis”.

You can use evaluative adjectives to assess the usefulness and reliability of the sources – eg “this book made a significant contribution”.

Avoid vague or colloquial expressions like “it is pretty clear”.

1. SUMMARISE

For each paper, think of:

• how relevant is it e.g. is it up-to-date?
• how accurate is it e.g. is it an opinion piece?
• What is the quality of source e.g. is it peer reviewed?

Briefly restate the main point(s) or argument of the source. Consider the major methods of investigation, and its main conclusions. 

2. EVALUATE

Write an evaluative or critical comment on each paper. Think about:

• usefulness of this paper for your research topic
• limitations of paper

You may want to consider doing:

One or more sentences that (a) evaluate the authority or background of the author, (b) comment on the intended audience, (c) compare or contrast this work with another you have cited, or (d) explain how this work illuminates your bibliography topic.

See this factsheet from University of New England for help with structuring annotations.