The bibliography has all the sources the researcher has on a particular topic. This can help the researcher keep all his information in one convenient place. The researcher can also publish his bibliography for others to find, helping them research more quickly.
Instructors sometimes have students create annotated bibliographies, especially in more advanced classes. The instructor wants to see what the student is researching and why, so the instructor can guide him in different directions. The bibliographies continue to benefit the students long after the class has ended by building the student's reputation, showing the extent to where the researcher has studied the topic and places the researcher in the ongoing academic discourse.
Bibliographies are often called “references” themselves, depending on the format of the documentation style used by the researcher. The annotated bibliography can contain books, journals, websites and periodicals used by the researcher. Annotative bibliographies come in many formats, such as the MLA, APA, CBE and CSE styles. These documentation styles are formatted in a way most conducive to the needs of the discipline.
The annotation in the annotative bibliography is a summary, reflection or assessment of the source. With summaries, the researcher includes information about the main ideas of the text, so she can more quickly look through references to find the one she needs. The summary also helps researchers organize their thoughts.
With the assessment, the researcher assesses whether the source is high quality and whether the source will be useful to the researcher. The researcher can mention whether the source sounds credible and objective. After evaluating, the researcher should think about how the information fits into the rest of the research.
Researchers need bibliographies to show they have performed research sufficient to thoroughly understand the topic they’re covering, which bolsters credibility. If other researchers do not trust a claim in the essay, they can look up the cited sources themselves. Annotated bibliographies further demonstrate the researcher’s credibility by showing that the researcher not only read the sources, but also understood them enough to explain them in the annotations. Anyone can place references at the bottom of their essay and claim they have read them, but annotations require deeper reading. Annotated bibliographies require the reader to think critically about the sources instead of accepting them at face value.