WHAT IS AN ANNOTATION? An annotation, according to the Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science, “is a succinct explanation or description of a particular item,[…] Its purpose is
Each student is required to submit TWO Annotated Current Events Bibliography. The news item may be from your choice of periodicals.
Your annotation should begin with a complete bibliographic citation using APA style. This is followed by the annotation. In general, the contents of the annotation should answer the questions listed below in the reading. There are two types of annotations: general description and critical comment. However, the relevance of particular questions will vary somewhat depending on the topic.
You are also to include information about what, where, and how you found each item in your journal.
Each entry should be 1 single-spaced page. Below, you will find information about annotations and the two types of entries to be used in this assignment as well as sample entries.
WHAT IS AN ANNOTATION?
An annotation, according to the Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science, “is a succinct explanation or description of a particular item,[…] Its purpose is to guide the reader to material worth his time, to warn him of works better left to gather dust.” (424)
INFORMATIVE – This type of annotation summarizes what the content, message, or argument of the source is. It generally contains the hypothesis, methodology, main points, and conclusion or results, but without any editorial or evaluative comments about such content. This type of annotation seeks to answer these types of questions: “What are the author’s main arguments? What conclusions did the author draw?”
The information required to answer these questions should be found in the source itself with careful reading of some parts you probably usually disregard, such as prefatory remarks, introductions, etc. Be sure, also, to scan the Table of Contents for a special section with information about the authors/contributors of multi-authored works. Some questions apply only to certain formats. In the case of periodical articles, it may be necessary to consult an entire issue to answer some questions.
If you retrieved the article online, you should also consider finding the homepage for the periodical.
-What kind of work is it? Book? Chapter? Essay? Popular magazine article? Scholarly journal article? Webpage?
-Who is/are the author(s)? Consider background, position, qualifications. If there are many, as there might be with a webpage, how would you characterize them as a group?
-What was the author’s stated purpose or motivation in writing the article or book, or in doing the research, or in contributing to the webpage?
-Who is the intended audience? This includes scholars in a discipline, the general public, workers in an industry, professionals in a field, people with a shared passion/interest or of a certain age group or political persuasion.
-Who is the publisher or sponsor? This is especially relevant if the information source is related to an organization of some sort. Find out something about them. Find their webpage, mission statement, purpose. Are there any significant attachments, appendices, statistics, data, images, weblinks, etc. included?
-What is the basis for the research or data reported? This would include things like types of information used, methodology, problem statements, and limitations.
-What is the scope of the documentation? Look at the different information resources cited, their dates, formats, and quality as well as quantity.
2 CRITICAL COMMENT – This type of annotation makes evaluative statements about the content of a source. It might address the strengths and weaknesses of the source or the applicability of the conclusions in relation to the subject you are researching. This type of annotation seeks to answer these types of questions: “Is the reasoning sound? Is the author’s presentation of the facts objective? Is the methodology sound? Is this source useful for my audience? Are the conclusions still valid in light of new research? What contribution does this make to the field? Does this source address all the relevant issues?” In short, “How does this source measure up in comparison to other sources on this topic?” Answering these questions will require some critical thinking on your part. Comparing the different sources of information you have found on the same topic usually helps. -What aspects of the subject are emphasized? Is the author presenting one particular point of view? -What conclusions are drawn? Issues raised? Are the conclusions drawn justified or adequately substantiated? -Can you detect any biases or fallacies in the arguments or conclusions presented? -Is anything clearly lacking? Do you feel like you have questions about what is or is NOT stated? -If information about the authors/sponsor/publisher was difficult to find or very limited, what does this lead you to believe about the validity and authority of the information provided? -How effectively is the information presented? Are you left feeling confused? Are there gaps or holes? -Are there any other qualities of the source, like style, organization, or graphics, which affect its usefulness? -Is the work functioning as a primary or secondary source in your research? -How does this particular information source compare with or relate to the others you have read on the topic? -How useful was this work to you in your research? What role did it play?
CHOOSING SOURCES Appropriate sources for annotation could be books, newspaper articles, journal articles, pamphlets, films, Web sites, or broadcast news stories.
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