Locate books, articles, periodicals and any white papers related to the scholarly research area by using library catalogs and databases.
Prepare a bibliography by recording relevant citations in a document using an appropriate scholarly style.
Read and make notes in a notebook or on note cards that record and evaluate the works, based on first impressions.
Repeat the research and note-taking process. Always record additional sources in the document containing the bibliography.
Write a basic outline of the research. Divide the outline into at least five general sections: the introduction, three or more major themes broken down into sub-sections and the conclusion.
Mark with a highlighter, colored pen or post-it, places in the outline where a specific source is used.
Open a new document and paste all bibliographic references from the bibliography document in what will be the annotated bibliography.
Write an annotation for each source in a summary form under the alphabetized reference. In less than 200 words, summarize the central theme and general scope of the source, evaluate the background of the author and the desired audience, compare the work with other articles on the topic, discuss the effectiveness of the argument, and conclude with how this work is related to the research topic.
Review each annotation for clarity and grammatical mistakes.
Insert annotations topically in the document containing the outline, based on the places previously highlighted.
Save the annotated bibliography and the annotated outline to turn in to the instructor, to share with colleagues or to file for future reference and research.