Annotated Bibliography Due Date:
Periods 1, 2, 4: Thursday, January 30
Period 7: Friday, January 31
Annotated bibliographies must be submitted to BOTH Schoology and Turn It In.
No late work!
I will update these tips frequently. Check back for the latest:
Unless your source is an unsigned article from a reference book (e.g. encyclopedia, handbook, atlas, guidebook), your source will have an author. Organizations/government agencies/non- profits can all be authors. If no author is named, make the organization who is sponsoring the piece, the website, the pamphlet, the document the author.
Don’t use headers (summary, evaluation, relevance) in your annotation. Just write a normal paragraph.
Give an example of the sources that are cited. For instance if your source uses statistics from the Department of Justice say - “according to a study conducted by the Department of Justice” or “the 2020 US Census showed.” Everything in the evaluation section needs to be specific evidence to support your claim that your source is top notch.
If your source does not include content that you can evaluate, then select a different source for the annotated bibliography assignment. Avoid ABC-CLIO reference sources, state bills and any other source that does not indicate the sources that went into the content.
If your source is dated, you must address the fact in your annotation. Are you using this old source to give an historical perspective? Does the old source show a change in attitude, law, etc. Does the old source provide the foundational knowledge all experts in the field acknowledge.
Do not say, "The source is from 2024 so it is current." I can read the date in the citation. "You can say the source is from 2020 and reflects the most recent statistics from the US Census."
If your source includes interviews, note that the interviews are with experts - “Professor Barbara van Schewick of the Stanford Center for the Internet and Society stated Net Neutrality…” or even “ The author interviewed experts from Stanford Law School as well as the director of the California Commission on Broadband.”
You need to identify the mission/purpose/goal of every organization whose information you use. Read “about us.” Check out mission statements. Do lateral reading to find out what other organizations have to say about the group you are citing.
Avoid filler and fluff.
Do not use direct quotations in the annotated bibliography. The content is your analysis of the source. Your evidence to support your claim about the source must be paraphrased or summarized from the article.
Don’t be lazy. For the relevance section you can not simply say “This article helps with my counter argument.” Say “The study provides statistics I will use to show that needle exchange programs are cost effective in preventing the spread of infectious diseases.” Always be specific!
Put publication titles in italics, for example: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Emerging Science of Water, Journal of Environmental Science.
Below are examples of quality student work on the AP Lang Annotated Bibliography assignment.