What is an Annotated Bibliography

A bibliography is a list of information sources, such as books, journal articles, web sites, etc. Bibliographies are most commonly found at the end of journal articles, books and government reports, but may be single book-length publications.

An annotated bibliography provides brief commentaries which are either descriptive or critical, on the items listed. Selective and critical annotated bibliographies are often called guides to the literature.

 

Sample Descriptive Annotation

A descriptive annotation describes the content of the work without judging it. It does point out distinctive features.

                          1. Lee, Yun-Suk, Barbara Schneider and Linda J. Waite. “Children and Housework: Some Unanswered Questions.” Sociological Studies of Children and Youth 9 (2003): 105-25.

 

                           The American research reviewed in this study indicates that when mothers are employed outside the home, kids are more likely than their fathers to take up the slack. The amount and type of housework vary by children’s age (older kids do more than younger kids), race and ethnicity (African American and Latino kids do more than European American and Asian American kids), and gender (girls do more and different kids of domestic chores than boys, and the gender gap is even more pronounced for minority kids), and by the mother’s marital status (kids do more housework in a single-parent and divorced-parent homes than in two-parent homes). Ironically, the disproportionate amounts of household work performed by girls and the sex typing of chores suggest that as mothers challenge stereotypical sex roles outside the home, they may be reinforcing them at home. 

2. Boocock, Sarane S., and Kimberly A. Scott. Kids in Context: The Sociological Study of Children and Childhoods. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2005.

Kids in Context gives a comprehensive overview that examines alternative perceptions children and childhood and empirical evidence about children’s social worlds, from their day-to-day experiences in their homes, neighbourhoods, and schools to the impact on their lives of political, economic, and social trends at the global level. Variations in childhoods resulting from inequalities of race, ethnicity, gender, and social class are compared. In keeping with the authors’ view of children as active participants in society rather than simply as passive recipients of adult care and control, each chapter contains data gathered directly from children, and examples of children’s contributions to their families, communities and societies are noted. The final chapter contains assessment of alternative strategies for enhancing children’s status and well-being.  

 

Sample Critical Annotation

A critical annotation is evaluative when discussing works and considers how a book, article, website, etc. stands up against most of the published works in a particular field of study. This type of annotation would include how a work relates and compares to other works on the topic, and whether the work would be useful to others exploring the topic. The words in bold indicate what part of the annotation makes it a critical one.

Bandelj, Nina., Viviana Zelizer, and Ann Morning. Materials for the Study of Childhood. Princeton, N.J.: Department of Sociology, Princeton University, 2001.

This work is an invaluable guide for the study of children’s social worlds assembled by researchers at Princeton University. Part 1 contains a selected bibliography of social science literature, grouped by the following subjects: general, historical and cross-cultural perspective; households; schools; production and consumption; literature, popular arts and media; child welfare and inequalities among children, children’s organization of their lives, including use of time and space; and methods for studying children and childhoods. Part 2, which contains information on data sources, research centers, and other resources for the study of children and childhoods, including listings of Internet websites and of sociologists, in the United States and elsewhere, who conduct research and/or teach courses about childhood, will be helpful to experienced researchers and teachers as well as to those new to the field.

Corsaro, William A. We’re Friends, Right? Inside Kids’ Culture. Washington, D.C.: Joseph Henry Press, 2003.       

Drawing on thirty years of ethnographic research with children, Corsaro provides a wealth of colorful empirical examples demonstrating the complexity of children’s peer worlds, the intricacies of their interactions, and the variables that shape the contours of their cultures. With careful attention to the details of gaining access to and acceptance in children’s social worlds, Corsaro is able to trace the processes by which children establish and maintain friendships, resolve conflicts, negotiate adult-child interactions, and use play to create their social selves.

Examples taken from:

Bowman, Vibiana ed. Scholarly Resources for Children and Childhood Studies. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 2007.