How to Write an Annotated Bibliography Mr. Albert English 11 H

Different teachers or courses may have different requirements for annotated bibliographies, but here’s a basic format that we will use. An annotated bibliography is basically where you do the research for a formal research paper without writing the paper. You look up sources and write down what you would use from those sources if you were writing an actual paper.

First do some reading to make sure you source is a good one, rather than just going by the title or the first things that come up on Google.

When you’ve found a useful (and reliable) source, write down the bibliographic information.

Then, take notes on the main points and those ideas which pertain to your individual project. You don’t have to write down all the main points of the article, just what is useful to your purpose.

Include any direct quotes that you think might be useful later, but remember to put quotation marks around them. Always know where you got a quote or statistic.

Some annotated bibliographies require you to summarize your notes into paragraph form, but for this assignment you may use paragraphs or bullet points. Just make sure the ideas are clear.

Stick to the facts presented in the resource whether you agree with them or not. You aren’t writing your paper yet.

The annotated bibliography should have each of your resources listed as they would appear in a bibliography (alphabetical by author, etc.) followed by your summary.

For Example:

Zinn, Howard. Chapter 17: “’Or Does It Explode.’” A People’s History of the United States: 1492 -

Present. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2003. 443-467.

In the chapter “Or Does It Explode,” Howard Zinn begins with the argument that the black revolt of the 50’s and 60’s was a surprise to many, but really should not have been to anyone paying attention to literature since the Harlem Renaissance. Poets like Countee Cullen, Claude McKay, and Langston Hughes, 30 years before the civil rights movement, wrote about the desire to be a part of and grasp at the American dream and the potential for catastrophe if that desire was not satiated. Another often ignored fact is the popularity and alliance of the communist party with African Americans during this time period.

WWII seemed to put the movement on hold, but the subsequent Cold War meant that this issue had one more reason to be addressed. Truman recommended the civil rights section of the Department of Justice be expanded among other things to end racial discrimination, but Truman’s Committee on Civil Rights even admitted the motivation was more economics and America’s international image than a moral reason. Legislation already existed, however, the problem was enforcement, which Truman did nothing more about than his predecessors had (or even some successors). For example, ten years after segregation in schools was outlawed, 75% of southern schools were still segregated.

Zinn then goes into a survey of the Civil Rights Movement, the dream that exploded in the Langston Hughes poem from which this chapter got its name. The uniting difference seemed to be that the countenance of the black community changed from cringing apology to intention and determination as evidenced in the faces of the lunch counter sit-inners. As with previous decades, legislation continued, but enforcement did not. In fact, as congress would pass civil rights laws, the FBI would subvert black groups such as the Black Panther Party.