WRIT 120K: AI in Culture and Discourse

Bibliographies are the list of information resources (e.g., articles, books, web sites, videos) used in your research. Depending on the citation style used, your bibliography might be called "Works Cited" (MLA) or "Reference List" (APA). 

Annotated bibliographies combine a bibliography with brief notes which concisely summarize and analyze each resource in the list; those brief notes are the annotations. Professors often assign annotated bibliographies near the beginning of the research process. Some benefits of doing this are:

• You start looking for sources sooner rather than later.
• You get practice reading and summarizing scholarly literature.
• You begin to understand what has already been written about your topic.
• You begin to see how different researchers might agree or disagree with each other.
• Your professor can suggest other places to look for information, based on what you've already found.
• You can refer back to the annotations when you are ready to make use of the sources in your writing.

Once you have evaluated an information resource and decided it may be relevant for your research, you should summarize the key ideas in your own words. Questions to consider when writing a summary include:

• What is the main idea expressed or thesis being defended in that source?
• What form of expression is used to convey the idea and/or what evidence is provided to support the thesis?
• Are there other key points that are important for understanding this resource?

In addition to a concise summary, you instructor may want you to evaluate the resource quality and/or place it within the context of the larger scholarly conversation. Questions to consider when evaluating the resource quality/context include:

• How compelling is the author's presentation of the main idea and/or support for the thesis?
• Are there any potential biases or other quality concerns?
• Does the source reference or engage with other relevant sources?

Finally, it is useful to include a sentence or two about how you might use the resource in your own writing that you can refer back to later. Note how the resource relates to your own research question/thesis:

• Does it provide useful context or background information about your research topic?
• Does it offer evidence or reasoning which supports your own thesis?
• Does it offer counter-examples to your own position to which you may want to respond?