An annotated bibliography is the list of sources that will be used in the research paper. An annotated bibliography has four main components. The first part includes the citation of a credible source. The actual citation of the source helps the reader to find the source easily and gives credit to the source for providing the information (Bisignani & Allen 2010). In the second part of the bibliography, the summary of the source or the study is provided in detail. The summary helps in understanding the key points of the source that will be helpful in future research papers. Moreover, it gives a quick overview of the literature related to the proposed topic of the study. The third component of the annotated bibliography is to evaluate the validity or credibility of the sources. Effective research does not include every source in its list of references, and it covers all the valid sources of books, journal articles, and documents. Therefore, before citing any sources, its validity must be determined.
Valid and credible sources are trustworthy, and they give credit and value to the research. Sometimes, researchers cannot find accurate information and data for the research because of the reliance on the incredible sources in the bibliography. To determine the credibility of the sources, the researcher must check the source affiliation. Considering the background of the source could be helpful in determining the credibility of the author or the source. Next, the credibility of the author can be evaluated by analyzing the list of sources that are used by the author in the study. If the author has not used any references, then avoid using the source for the research paper because it may or may not be credible. Some websites on the internet provide false and misleading information and details; therefore, such sources should not be used. Wikipedia is also not considered a credible source because its content could be changed by any author. Moreover, another matrix to check the credibility of the sources is to evaluate the date of publication. For the research, try to use up-to-date sources in the bibliography so that the research paper covers the most updated information about the topic. The old sources might contain outdated information. Therefore, the use of outdated sources gives a bad impression of the research. The information about the publisher is also very important for analyzing the source validity because the valid sources are always published by the reputed publishers (Faix, 2014). In addition to the previous matrix, it is important to consider the objectivity of the source. For example, if the bibliography covers a citation of a book, then it must be unbiased, updated, and published by reputed publishers. The biased sources are not credible and could impact the research paper negatively (Charles, 2020). Additionally, the researcher should select the sources in the annotated bibliography that are relevant to the topic of the study.
The fourth component of the annotated bibliography is imperative because it provides the researcher with the actual reason why the source will be used in the research paper. All aspects of the source may or may not be used by the researcher in the research paper. Therefore, an annotated bibliography will provide the researcher with the opportunity to determine and plan which particular aspect will be used in the study or research paper.
From the above discussion, it is evident that the annotated bibliography is a significant part of the research paper. Writing an annotated bibliography is the first step after determining the research topic. It allows the researcher to plan and give direction to the study. Therefore, proper attention should be given to all the components of the annotated bibliography.
Work Cited
Bisignani, Dana, and Allen Brizee. “Annotated bibliographies.” (2010).
Faix, Allison. “Assisting students to identify sources: an investigation.” Library Review (2014).
Charles, Cristie Cowles, and Elise Silva. “Finding & Evaluating Sources.” Writing in the Social Sciences (2020).
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