Problem
Writing an Annotated Bibliography
A bibliography is a list of sources (books, journals, websites, periodicals, etc.) one has used for researching a topic. A bibliography usually just includes the bibliographic information (i.e., the author, title, publisher, etc.).
An annotation is a summary and/or evaluation. Therefore, an annotated bibliography includes the bibliographic information and a summary and/or evaluation of each of the sources.
Annotated bibliographies are generally written to help prepare you for a research project, and often to help you generate a thesis statement.
Typically an annotation will do some or all of the following:
1) Summarize: Assume that your reader is not familiar with the source. Provide a brief summary of the important parts of the text, focusing on how it pertains to your research.
2) Assess: Evaluate how useful the source is.
3) Reflect: How does this fit into your research? How has it shaped or changed your thinking on this topic?
When you've completed your research, and have a mixture of at least 5 fiction and nonfiction texts in a variety of media formats, do an annotated bibliography. In each annotation, summarize the text and reflect on what the text says about the theme of identity.