Sample Annotated Bibliography

Sample Annotated BibliographyAnyone who writes, or for that matter anyone who teaches college-level writing, needs to have a good, readable, and complete set of sample annotated bibliographies in his or her bag of tricks. A good resource for this, however, may not be found in your local college library or bookstore.An annotated bibliography is simply a bibliography that has annotations, such as acknowledgments, by other authors who may be cited. It is a useful tool for writers and scholars, for teachers, and for college instructors to introduce students to the idea of citation and editing.Before the days of electronic resources, which have made it possible to carry anything from a thesis to a dissertation to a book on any topic, the best way to get one was to buy it and then lug it home on your person, or to bring it along with you to a university library. An annotated bibliography does exactly that: provides a simple way to get help from an expert. This kind of annotated bibliograph y is ideal for research papers and research books, however it can also be used to get help when teaching introductory writing courses and for essays.What kinds of annotations are included in a bibliography? The important types are explanatory citations, bibliographic notes, and author acknowledgment. Explanatory citations are like a summary of the bibliography, giving a brief overview of the works consulted.Bibliographic notes can be added after every reference, listing all the additional works that relate to the work that is being discussed in the bibliography. Author acknowledgment is a part of any manuscript that is a published paper or essay.Explanatory citations are usually marked as an article by one or more other authors, if there is not a corresponding article in the literature. In addition, authors often use this type of citation to encourage the reader to read further. An author acknowledgement is usually found at the end of the bibliography.When looking for an annotated b ibliography, it's important to look for a resource that offers a variety of different types of annotations. You don't want to be limited to the company's annotation service when you need other types of citations, so take some time to review what is available before committing to any single annotation site.Writing and teaching require the use of citations, which can make the job of the writer or professor more difficult than it needs to be. However, with an annotated bibliography, the process of getting citations right becomes very easy, and can dramatically increase the success of the writing and teaching efforts.