Steps for writing an annotated bibliography
Questions
- Start by deciding which sources will be most critical and useful for your topic. Begin by thinking about your research question, or your possible choice of subject then think about which sources would best help you answer those questions. A major benefit of writing an annotated bibliography is that, by the end of it, you will have a far better idea of what your project looks like, what you are arguing, and what evidence you have to support your argument.
- Once you have identified your key sources, you need to introduce your source and identify the main argument and thesis. The best way of understanding the main thesis is to look at the introduction and conclusion.
- Evaluate the source or document, which is essentially your analysis of the source. How successfully does the author support his/her argument. Look back through the source and see exactly what evidence the author has used to make his or her case. Is there enough evidence? Do you agree with how the author interpreted the evidence? Is the argument convincing?
- Evaluate how useful the source is to your project. What did you learn from this source? Has your thinking on the subject change based on the source? Think about the actual structure or outline of your paper. How will you use this source in your paper? In an annotated bibliography, every sentence counts, so make sure your writing is direct and that you clearly articulate the main points you want to make efficiently. Sample Annotated Bibliographies: Blanchard, Paula. Sarah Orne Jewett: Her World and Her Work. New York: Addison- Wesley Publishing Company,
- Part of the Radcliffe Biography Series, which publishes the life stories of prominent American women, Blanchard’s book is the definitive biography on Jewett. As her subtitle implies, she not only seeks to illuminate the events of Jewett’s life, but also to contextualize her writings and provide a critical reading of her most famous works. Many of the chapters in Blanchard’s biography are devoted specifically to major texts, such as Deephaven, The Country of the Pointed Firs, and The Tory Lover. Blanchard provides background on Jewett’s writing process (such as where she wrote and the degree of revisions she made) as well as brief literary analyses. Most of Blanchard’s chapters are centered on key relationships and themes in Jewett’s own life. Blanchard argues that it is only by thoroughly situating Jewett in her historical moment that we can understand her literary work, thereby issuing a critique of scholars who claim we can study Jewett’s canon in isolation. Particularly useful for my project are the chapters that discuss Jewett’s coterie of literary friends in New England and her close relationship with Annie Fields. In a chapter entitled, “Neither Marrying Nor Giving in Marriage,” Blanchard seeks to uncover Jewett’s own motivations for remaining single, as well as place Jewett’s single status within the scholarly conversation about
nineteenth-century unmarried women. She aligns herself with both Carroll Smith-Rosenberg and Lillian Faderman in saying that Jewett’s personal friendships and relationships with women (as
well as male family members) were sufficiently fulfilling for her and therefore precluded a desire to marry. I will use Blanchard’s text in my paper to support my argument that unmarried women were deeply enmeshed in their communities, rather than being social pariahs stigmatized as “old maids.” I will also use some aspects of Blanchard’s argument as a point of departure, however I disagree with her claim that women’s close female friendships precluded marriage. Rather, I see Jewett’s friendships as helping her craft a meaningful life as a single woman instead of inhibiting her desire or ability to marry. Glickman, Lawrence B. A Living Wage: American Workers and the Making of Consumer Society. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1997. Glickman traces the history of the idea of a living wage from the end of the Civil War to the 1930s. He argues that American workers moved from seeing themselves as producers to seeing themselves as consumers, which in turn altered American attitudes towards wage labor and the role of government in the workplace. Relying mainly on discourse analysis, Glickman divides his book into four parts that track the changing rhetoric of wage labor in different sectors of American society. Situated in two different historiographies, Glickman’s book brings together scholarship on labor history and consumer history. His contributions mainly center on identifying the agency of workers in labor reform and New Deal policies, as well as in showing that consumerism engaged workers more fully in the civic sphere rather than depoliticizing them. He also demonstrates that wage labor was heavily racialized and gendered. The book’s main weakness is Glickman’s heavy reliance on discourse analysis as a methodology. By placing so much emphasis on rhetoric, Glickman does not give the reader a sense of the detail of labor reform, nor does he connect idealized rhetoric with the actual lived experiences of American