ENG 102/Riek

Annotated Bibliography Due: Monday, April 18th

The purpose of an annotated bibliography is to help you evaluate sources for your final paper. This is an
opportunity for you to gather your research, from various sources, and decide which sources best
contribute to your final paper.

Requirements:
For this assignment you are to put together a 5-7 source annotated bibliography. You may choose from
books, journals, newspapers, videos, radio, and one personal interview. It is generally easier to evaluate
the merits of these sources than internet sources. For basic guidelines for evaluating web sources go to:
http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~kgk/nonmedinst/int10.htm

Format:
The format in this case is MLA. I have provided a sample annotation, in MLA format, below. For
questions about MLA citation guidelines go to: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/557/01/

Contents:
The easiest way to think about the information in an annotated bibliography is that it answers 4 specific
questions: who, what, why, and how. The who is answered in the citation itself—the author, title of
article, book, etc., publisher, and date of publication. The who, then, is the standard bibliographic
information. The annotation is the what, why, and how. First you will provide a brief summary of the
article, chapter, etc. The length of the summary will depend on your source, but for our purposes, you
should be able to summarize your source in a paragraph or less—give the reader enough information to
understand what this source is. Once you have provided the summary, you are ready to explain why
you’ve selected this source for your research. In other words, ask yourself what this source contributes
to your paper. Finally, you will explain how you will utilize this source in your paper—will it provide
background information? Does it support or contradict your issue? This is perhaps the most important
part of the annotation process, since it requires you to visualize the format of your paper and determine
which of your sources are not only the most valuable but also integrate well into your paper.

Sample Annotation (MLA format):

Holland, Suzanne. The Human Embryonic Stem Cell Debate : Science, Ethics, and Public Policy.
Boston: MIT Press, 2001. Print.

This is the annotation of the above source. In this example, I am following MLA guidelines for the
bibliographic information listed above. If I were really writing an annotation for this source, I would now be
offering a brief summary of what this book says about stem cell research.

After a brief summary, it would be appropriate to assess this source and offer some criticisms of it. Does it seem
like a reliable and current source? Why? Is the research biased or objective? Are the facts well documented? Is
this source scholarly, popular, some of both?

After summarizing and assessing, you can now reflect on this source. Is this a helpful resource? Too scholarly?
Not scholarly enough? Too general/specific? Since "stem cell research" is a very broad topic, has this source
helped you to narrow your topic? How does it fit into your research.
NOTE: At the top of your annotated bibliography, before your citations, please write your thesis
statement!