A&B Ch. 7 skill 4, annotated bibliography

An annotated bibliography is a list of sources for a given topic, to make it easier for a person who has done research or will be doing research to organize and cleanly present their information.  This bibliography is generally organized alphabetically listing each of the sources that the author used in a particular set of research.  There are two main ways to go about an annotated bibliography, first is a summary-only annotation.  This form is where when creating the bibliography the author will focus strictly on presenting the information that the source provides.  It shows the authors use of rhetoric and simply tells you what is in each source.  The other form is called an evaluative annotation.  In this form the author will not only provide a summary of the various sources but will also give their own personal evaluation of the article or the source, writing how they personally feel on the effectiveness of the article.  No matter the style the author chooses, the annotated bibliography shouldn’t exceed 150 words, it should be clear and concise allowing any readers to understand the information clearly.  When writing the bibliography, the author should pay special attention to three topics.  First the rhetorical information, show how the rhetoric was used and how well it was used.  Second, summarize the content of the source.  Tell the reader what is there.  Finally evaluate the source, if the author were doing a summary they would focus on how they would use it in their article or research, if it was exploratory the author would also talk about its strengths, weaknesses and how useful it was.