Annotated Bibliography

W H A T, W H Y, H O W
T A K E N F R O M O L I N U R I S . L I B R A R Y. C O R N E L L . E D U
( H T T P : / / O L I N U R I S . L I B R A R Y. C O R N E L L . E D U )

What is it?

An alphabetized list of citations to books,

articles, and documents

Each entry is followed by an annotation: a brief
paragraph that
Summarizes
Connects
Evaluates

Why the annotated bib?

To inform the reader of the content of the
source summative and descriptive
AND
To highlight the relevancy, accuracy, and
quality of the source critical and evaluative.
NOTE: An annotation is not an abstract-- the purely
descriptive summaries often found at the beginning of
scholarly journal articles or in periodical indexes.

How to Write?
Locate and record citations to books, periodicals, and documents

that may contain useful information and ideas on your topic.

Choose those works that provide a variety of perspectives on your

topic.

Cite the book, article, or document using the appropriate style (MLA

for our purposes).

Write a concise annotation (about 150 words) that summarizes the

central theme/idea/argument and scope of the book or article.

Include several sentences that evaluate and connect.

The evaluative element

Some questions to consider:

Why is this source important?

How is the author revealed as authoritative (or not)?
Who is the intended audience?
What is the authors point of view?
What is this authors rhetorical strategy?
What is this authors literary bias? (theoretical
perspective?)
Are there any gaps in the authors argument?
How does the authors argument relate to other critical
works on the same subject?
How does this work illuminate your bibliography topic?

How to Create an Annotated Bibliography

Source 1:

Paragraph One of AB: What is the source about? Summarize.

Paragraph 2 of AB: Why is this helpful for your paper? What is the significance?

Minimum of 3 good quotes (can have more, but 3 is the minimum).

Do quote: Something the author says that you cannot possibly say better:

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

Tomorrow and tomorrow and

day to

tomorrow / Creeps in this petty pace from

day.

Do NOT quote stuff you can paraphrase:

He was born in Boston in 1806.

(Paraphrase useful information from the source that is not quoted.)

Part 1: Title

Basically, what is the research

about
Issues

with Early Puritan colonies

Part 2: Works Cited-Type Information

Korobkin, Laura Hanft. The Scarlet Letter of the

Law: Hawthorne and Criminal

Justice. NOVEL: A Forum on Fiction 30 (Winter 1997): 193217. JSTOR. Web. 23 Sep. 2014.

Part 3: Why is this helpful for your paper? What is

the significance?
Laura Korobkins article suggests that while Hawthorne is

critiquing and exploring the problems of historical Puritan

society, he is primarily using this a as means to respond to his
very contemporary political concerns in 1850. Because of the
Fugitive Slave Law, Hawthornes American society was
concerned with whether or not the restrictions of law could be
cast aside for a higher moral law. Korobkin argues that
Hawthorne was equally concerned with neither being bound
by the law nor completely discarding the law for vigilante
justice, as Chillingworth does.
This seems to suggest that Hawthorne, while not a political
activities necessarily, was responding to the life and times of
his culture. Although actually writing about the world of the
past, Hawthornes story showed his deep concern for justice
and peace within his own lifetime.

Part 4:Minimum of 3 good quotes (can have more, but 3 is the

minimum).

If Puritan history makes Hawthornes historical manipulations visible,

the politics of 1850 make them comprehensible (Korobkin 194).

. . . The Scarlet Letter was written in a time of intense concern about

the Fugitive Slave Laws. Like Arac and Bercovitch, I read TSL as a response
to the political anxieties of 1850 (Korobkin 195).

. . . the debate over obedience to law is crucial to reading The Scarlet

Letter (Korobkin 196).

That Chillingworth is positioned as a vigilante suggests that the spectre

of violence disdain for law was one of Hawthornes motivating fears in
writing the novel. The public discourse of New England abolitionism in the
late 1840s and 1850s preached just

Criminal
Justice. NOVEL: A Forum on Fiction 30 (Winter 1997): 193-217. JSTOR. Web. 23 Sep. 2014.
Laura Korobkins article suggests that while Hawthorne is critiquing and exploring the problems of historical
Puritan society, he is primarily using this a as means to respond to his very contemporary political concerns
in 1850. Because of the Fugitive Slave Law, Hawthornes American society was concerned with whether or
not the restrictions of law could be cast aside for a higher moral law. Korobkin argues that Hawthorne was
equally concerned with neither being bound by the law nor completely discarding the law for vigilante justice,
as Chillingworth does.
This seems to suggest that Hawthorne, while not a political activities necessarily, was responding to the life
and times of his culture. Although actually writing about the world of the past, Hawthornes story showed his
deep concern for justice and peace within his own lifetime.

If Puritan history makes Hawthornes historical manipulations visible, the politics of 1850 make them
comprehensible (Korobkin 194).

. . . The Scarlet Letter was written in a time of intense concern about the Fugitive Slave Laws. Like Arac
and Bercovitch, I read TSL as a response to the political anxieties of 1850 (Korobkin 195).

. . . the debate over obedience to law is crucial to reading The Scarlet Letter (Korobkin 196).

That Chillingworth is positioned as a vigilante suggests that the spectre of violence disdain for law was
one of Hawthornes motivating fears in writing the novel. The public discourse of New England abolitionism
in the late 1840s and 1850s preached just

Why is an Annotated Bibliography Good?

Burning question: Do you want to do this the easy way or the hard

way?

Hard Way: writing your paper with all your sources around you (or

open in
various tabs in your browser) trying to go back and forth between
sources and your paper searching through sources again and again
for material to use in your paper.
Easy Way: Create an annotated bib for each of your sourcesbonus:

if you
save that AB to your computer, you can CUT from it and PASTE it
into your paper

Bottom Line
Include sufficient quotes (3 min) and
paraphrasing for each source so that you can write
your paper with your AB. You can cut and paste
quotes/paraphrasing while adding your analysis as
you go. Dont forget to tweak and polish (aka: revise)
along the way.