When researchers write a paper, they become curators of information. It's their job to determine the best sources of information on a topic and use those sources to inform their writing. As part of a larger series, a handout on annotated bibliographies explains how researchers take their works cited page from a simple list of books, magazines, and websites and transform it into a valuable collection of information that not only critically evaluates their sources, but also helps inform others in their search for information.

Concepts

research writing, citations, mla format

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Additional Tags

english language arts

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Instructional Ideas

• Conduct a short class research project and work together to create an annotated bibliography, perhaps with pairs of learners taking on a single source
• Look at a basic bibliography and an annotated bibliography side by side and discuss the differences and benefits of each

Classroom Considerations

• Determine whether to use MLA, APA, or CBE citation format 

Pros

• Contains links to examples of annotated bibliographies in MLA, APA, and CBE format
• Uses bullet points to highlight key elements of each citation style

Cons

• Lacks information on when it's best to use an annotated bibliography in place of a regular works cited page

Common Core

W.9-10.7 W.9-10.8 W.11-12.7 W.11-12.8