Annotated Bibliographies Explained

So, you've chosen your research topic, you've narrowed topic down, and you've dug through the library stacks and every digital academic database you can. Now what? You have a stack of printed articles and books, which no matter how great your memory is, you'll never remember every article and chapter you read. How do you solve this problem? Easy. Do an annotated bibliography. "Urrggghhh, a bibliography," you moan. Before you moan and discount the importance of an annotated bibliography try one: they help.

There are a number of tools out there which make the process easier such as: easybib.com, bibme.com, or-rumor has it-Office 7 will build an annotated bibliography for you. I like to show you the easy way, because I find it much easier to do. Sometimes, these programs make errors, which in the long run can create more work for you.

But first, what is an annotated bibliography? An annotated bibliography is an easy reference guide for you to paraphrase and summarize long bibliographies of research material. Some users only want to use summary material, others like to use summary material and add quotes, and others like to use both and add keywords to help with research on deeper annotated bibliographies. I use all three and will show you how to, as well.

The first step is to use the proper MLA citation format. In this case, we are going to rely on John Graves's Myself and Strangers: A Memoir of Apprenticeship. So, we create the citation: (I've highlighted each step's work in the text for easy reference as we build the annotated entry.)

Graves, John. Myself and Strangers: A Memoir of Apprenticeship. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004.

Next, you summarize the research material with information that is helpful to your research project, and you can refer to later and understand your notes.

Graves, John. Myself and Strangers: A Memoir of Apprenticeship. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004.

Provides journal entires and personal reflections on Graves's period in Spain, Mallorca, and France before he returned to the States to write Goodbye to a River. This period is the most productive of Graves's fiction writing, journalism, and reading. Myself and Strangers gives examples of his reading material pre-Goodbye and the notes and ideas which will form the structure and scope of Goodbye to a River.

Once you've taken these steps, you have an annotated bibliography. I always add quotes from the book, too, I foresee helping me with the writing of my paper. I start the quote off with the page number, and I then write the entire quote. Sometimes I add a bit of pre- or post-material to remind me of context if it's particularly difficult subject matter. It looks like this:

Graves, John. Myself and Strangers: A Memoir of Apprenticeship. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004.

Provides journal entires and personal reflections on Graves's period in Spain, Mallorca, and France before he returned to the States to write Goodbye to a River. This period is the most productive of Graves's fiction writing, journalism, and reading. Myself and Strangers gives examples of his reading material pre-Goodbye and the notes and ideas which will form the structure and scope of Goodbye to a River.

(139) The point, I believe was that I was looking for what I called "conception"-subject matter, really-in a confused way, attempting to write about the sort of things that writers I admired had dealt with....What I didn't see was that I still had to find the subject matter that was right for me, or had to let it find me. It would need to define itself, as in fact it ultimately did, for better or worse, in provincial Texas environs that had shaped me as a person.

(204) October 4: Reading Bedichek, Adventures with a Texas Naturalist. A very pleasant hodgepodge. I suppose all nature writers in English are influenced by the same British models in terms of form-White's Selbourne, Lord Grey, etc.-which in some hands is license to have no form at all. Bedichek shares many of my own prejudices against nature-destruction an artificiality, but surely he needs to smile...

And, finally, although not essential, I often add keywords to help me search deep bibliographies. These keywords are yours. There are no set parameters, just make sure you keep a headnote that reminds you of abbreviations or shorthand. This helps for longer projects. I usually add my keywords like below:

Graves, John. Myself and Strangers: A Memoir of Apprenticeship. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004.

Provides journal entires and personal reflections on Graves's period in Spain, Mallorca, and France before he returned to the States to write Goodbye to a River. This period is the most productive of Graves's fiction writing, journalism, and reading. Myself and Strangers gives examples of his reading material pre-Goodbye and the notes and ideas which will form the structure and scope of Goodbye to a River.

(139) The point, I believe was that I was looking for what I called "conception"-subject matter, really-in a confused way, attempting to write about the sort of things that writers I admired had dealt with....What I didn't see was that I still had to find the subject matter that was right for me, or had to let it find me. It would need to define itself, as in fact it ultimately did, for better or worse, in provincial Texas environs that had shaped me as a person.

(204) October 4: Reading Bedichek, Adventures with a Texas Naturalist. A very pleasant hodgepodge. I suppose all nature writers in English are influenced by the same British models in terms of form-White's Selbourne, Lord Grey, etc.-which in some hands is license to have no form at all. Bedichek shares many of my own prejudices against nature-destruction an artificiality, but surely he needs to smile...

keywords: Truitt-MitchellFeud; Regrets; Responsibility (129-130); Process (139); NatureWriting (204); Influences (204, 211); G2RCompProdDisRec (231-235)

Notice my keywords have page numbers following the designation. I do this in books to help guide me to the correct places in the book.

Although they can be a pain the first few times you use them in a research project, they're invaluable for bigger projects and for topics fitting your major. Think about it this way: do you really want to go back three years from now and read an article you've all ready read?