Annotated Bibliographies - Ithaca College Library

This short tutorial is designed to test (and improve!) your knowledge of various skills involved in creating an annotated bibliography.

If you haven't already, you might want to read our guide on this subject.

The images of Victorian Valentine cards are provided courtesy of The Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana. Click on the card to go to Bloomington's collection. See their online exhibit A Flowering of Affection: Victorian Valentine Cards at the Lilly Library for more information.

annotated
bibliographies

Take a look at the first page of this journal article. What is the name of the journal?

Click on the article image for a closer look.

Correct! The title of the journal is Qualitative Research Reports in Communication.

Incorrect. The title of the journal is Qualitative Research Reports in Communication. Routledge is the publisher and "Without Flirting…" is the title of the article.

The paragraph in italics that begins with "Exploratory qualitative interviews" is the…

Click on the article image for a closer look.

Correct! This paragraph is the abstract.

Incorrect. This paragraph is the abstract.

True or False: "Annotation" is another word for "abstract."

Correct! Annotations are not part of a published article. They are written by readers to either describe or evaluate the source. Abstracts are written by authors or publishers and summarize key points, methodology, and results of the paper.

Incorrect. Annotations are not part of a published article. They are written by readers to either describe or evaluate the source. Abstracts are written by authors or publishers and summarize key points, methodology, and results of the paper.

The key elements of any citation are the author(s), date, title, and publication information. Here are three sample entries in a bibliography, each describing a book in APA style. Which is most complete?

Correct! The entry for the book by Isay has all four elements of a complete citation. The other citations lack place of publication and date, respectively.

Incorrect. Only the entry for the book by Isay has all four elements of a complete citation. The other citations lack place of publication and date, respectively.

Here are three sample entries in a bibliography, this time describing journal articles (again, in APA style). Which is most complete?

Dillman Carpentier, F. R., Parrott, M. S., & Northup, C. T. (2014). When first comes love (or lust): How romantic and sexual cues bias first impressions in online social networking. Journal of Social Psychology, 154(5), 423-440.

Gowen, L. K., Catania, J. A., Dolcini, M. M., & Harper, G. W. (2014). The meaning of respect in romantic relationships among low-income African American adolescents. Journal of Adolescent Research, 29(5).

Yu, R., Branje, S., Keijsers, L., & Meeus, W. Brief report: How adolescent personality moderates the effect of love history on the young adulthood romantic relationship quality? Journal of Adolescence, 37(5), 749-752.

Correct! The entry for the article by Dillman Carpentier et al. has all four elements of a complete citation. The other citations lack page numbers and date, respectively.

Incorrect. Only the entry for the article by Dillman Carpentier et al. has all four elements of a complete citation. The other citations lack page numbers and date, respectively.

An annotation can be purely descriptive (summarizing the source or listing its contents) or may include evaluative aspects (detailing how well the resource meets its aims, how useful it will be to your research, and perhaps placing it in the context of related research). How would you describe the following annotation?

Langeslag, S. J. E., Muris, P., & Franken, I. H. A. (2013). Measuring romantic love: Psychometric properties of the Infatuation and Attachment Scales. Journal of Sex Research, 50(8), 739-747.

This paper presents a new questionnaire, the Infatuation and Attachment Scales (IAS). The IAS is designed to help researchers distinguish between the infatuation and attachment aspects of romantic love. The authors describe three tests carried out using the IAS and use statistical analysis to demonstrate the questionnaire's discriminative value.

Correct! This is a descriptive annotation.

Incorrect. This is a descriptive annotation. It describes what the paper does without evaluating the paper's quality or relating it to your research.

Let's try another one:

Lystra, K. (1989). Searching the heart: women, men, and romantic love in nineteenth-century America. Oxford University Press.

Drawing on love letters from Victorian America, the author examines how romantic love was viewed in that society. Her thorough textual analysis of these letters brings to light many aspects of romantic love that transcend stereotypical views of Victorian society. While Victorian sexuality is a popular topic of study, few have explicitly examined the topic of romance, making this book a valuable and unique resource regarding Victorian women.

Correct! This is an evaluative annotation.

Incorrect. This is an evaluative annotation. Note the phrase "thorough textual analysis." Also notice how the annotation evaluates the book's importance by placing it in the context of the literature on Victorian society.

Thank you for working through this tutorial on annotated bibliographies. We hope you found it relatively painless.

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