History of Louisiana - HIST 2100

This page will help students create an annotated bibliography.

Note: An annotated bibliography is different from a regular bibliography or works cited page.

Writing an annotated bibliography will help think about which source you should choose for your research paper. Your annotated bibliography will include one citation and one paragraph of notes (an annotation) for each of your sources.

This guide and video contain directions and tips for creating an annotated bibliography.

Annotations contain 3 (three) parts:

1. A comment on the author’s credentials, or their role in the historical event or period
2. A brief summary of the book’s thesis, or an explanation of the type of document it is if it is a primary source
3. An explanation of how the source relates to your research topic, or how it relates to your other sources

Example:

These resource can help you write your annotations:

• Search online to find the credentials of your secondary source authors. What advanced degrees do they have? Do they teach at a college or university?
• Use the Gale in Context: Biography database to find information about the author of your primary source.
• Search for book reviews of your secondary sources in the Academic Search Complete and JSTOR databases to determine the thesis of these books.