A bibliography is a work cited list or the reference list at the end of academic work, books, magazines, websites and any other project. A bibliography usually shows the sources you used to research the project. On the other hand, an annotated bibliography is a list of citations that is followed by a short descriptive paragraph, about 150 words, which is the annotation.
The annotated bibliography plays a role in evaluating the sources, formulating a thesis on the subject and informing the reader the relevance, quality, and precision of the sources. Just like any other academic feature, an annotated bibliography also has its formal structure. An appropriate annotated bibliography structure is brought by vital steps which include finding and recording citations, evaluating the selected sources and choosing the relevant ones, and then write the citation and annotation.
1. Finding and Recording Citations
Find relevant sources to the topic be it from books, journals, periodicals, documents, articles or websites. Record them from any citing pages such as Furl and Google Scholar. Chose sources that are updated mostly those that are less than five years to provide up to date information. This step is an essential one in an annotated bibliography structure because these are the sources you will use for the research and annotate at the end. Moreover, choose references according to the format of your academic work as referencing styles differ for MLA, APA or Chicago formats for the correct annotated bibliography structure.
2. Evaluate the Selected Sources
After choosing the sources that are relevant to your topic, evaluate them to pick those that contain enough information. Evaluation involves reading through the articles, picking documents that contain vast information such as keywords, statistics and important trends which are also essential in the annotated bibliography structure. Abstracts help in this stage as they help you examine if the document provides a wide variety of viewpoints that your topic needs to cover. Then write your research with the information collected.
3. Write the Citation and Annotation
With the above steps being done, you are ready to write your citations and annotations respecting the format of your work. An annotated bibliography structure depends on the type of annotated bibliography you are writing. There are two types of an annotated bibliography:
Descriptive or Analytical Annotated Bibliography
This is a type of annotated bibliography that summarizes the source, explains its purpose and why it is essential to use when researching a certain topic. Moreover, a descriptive annotated bibliography structure contains the author’s main conclusion and arguments without assessing what the author stands for in the research.
For example:
SAMHSA. (2011, December 22). SAMHSA announces a working definition of “recovery” from mental disorders and substance use disorders. Samhsa.gov. Retrieved from https://www.samhsa.gov/newsroom/press-announcements/201112220300
This editorial from SAMHSA describes a definition for a treatment model referred to as the recovery model which helps people suffering from mental disorders and substance use disorders. The author points out the introduction of the recovery model and how it will help patients. The article also describes a process which was conducted in April 2011 inviting the public on the SAMHSA blog to give their views about the working recovery model. The views from the people were put together, and the company came up with a definition for the recovery model. The author of this article stresses on some guiding principles of recovery as the main points that if respected a patient would recover from the mental and substance abuse disorders. This article is distinctive in explaining the definition of the recovery model for a better understanding and is intended for the general audience.
Analytical or Critical Annotated Bibliography
An analytical or critical annotated bibliography structure not only summarizes the source but also evaluates what the author says. This type of annotated bibliography evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of the documents and assesses the conclusions of the authors. The analytical bibliography structure is what is used in most academic institutions.
For example:
SAMHSA. (2011, December 22). SAMHSA announces a working definition of “recovery” from mental disorders and substance use disorders. Samhsa.gov. Retrieved from https://www.samhsa.gov/newsroom/press-announcements/201112220300
This editorial from SAMHSA describes a definition for a treatment model referred to as the recovery model which helps people suffering from mental disorders and substance use disorders. The article points out the problems which were faced by people before for not understanding the recovery model and its principles. The author provides a definition and principles of the recovery model but does not profoundly describe how the treatment takes place. The author explains how the definition came about from a SAMHSA blog post which was created on August 2011, and the public was invited to comment on how they understand the term. This article is essential for anyone trying to find or research about a treatment for a mental and substance abuse disorders, however, should not exclusively be used by anyone doing extensive research on the recovery model as it mostly concentrates on the definition and shallowly on the guiding principles of recovery.
Primary Contents of An Annotated Bibliography
Despite the different types of an annotated bibliography, an annotated bibliography structure contains constant contents which include a summary of the source, the main arguments, the intended audience, the relevance of the source, and conclusions made by the author. Moreover, an annotated bibliography structure contains the reliability of the text and the full citations of the bibliography.
An annotated bibliography is a subject that has acquired attention because many professors in institutions require the student to understand and differentiate it from an abstract. With the above information about an annotated bibliography structure, you can write an annotated bibliography with ease. An annotated bibliography helps a reader comprehend the information in the source and discover what the research is about before even going through it.
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