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EH 225: Early American Literature: Annotated Bibliographies

Annotated Bibliography

An bibliography is a list of citations to books, articles, and other sources used while researching a topic. Bibliographies may be also be called "References" or "Works Cited," depending on the style manual used.

An annotation is a summary or evaluation.

An annotated bibliography is a bibliography with annotations for the items cited.

Descriptive Annotations

Descriptive annotations focus on describing the cited items and may include information such as:

  • Contents and purpose of work
  • Intended audience
  • Research methods used
  • Author's conclusions
  • Special features of the item, such as illustrations, maps, graphs, etc.

Evaluative Annotations

Evaluative (or critical) annotations focus on evaluating the source and may include information such as:

  • Importance of the work's contributions to the field of study
  • Author's qualifications
  • Accuracy of information
  • Limitations of the work
  • Bias or tone of the work
  • Comparsion with other works

Further Resources