PREPARING ABSTRACTS AND ANNOTATIONS

How to Write an Abstract

An abstract is a summary in your own words, of an article, chapter, or book. It is
not evaluative and must not include your personal opinions. The purpose of an
abstract is to give a reader sufficient information for him or her to decide whether
it would be worthwhile reading the entire article or book. An abstract should aim at
giving as much information as possible in as few words as possible.
The abstract should include:
1. Complete bibliographic information
2. A clear statement of the scope and purpose of a work
3. A summary of the contents
4. A statement of the conclusion or results
SAMPLE ABSTRACT
Timsit, M., and N. Bruyere-DeGeyter. "The Function of Anxiety the Structure of
Personality in Sports Participation: Use of the Rorschach Test in Comparing
Samples of Basketball and Football Players." International Journal of Sport
Psychology. 8.2 (1977): 128-139.
Examines the relationship between athletes and the structure of the athletic
personality, and more precisely, the importance of the choice of a sport and
athletics in general in the development of the personality. Forty 17-21 year
olds (20 football players and 20 basketball players) were studied, and the

data were compared with those from 17 technical school students of the
same age. Data from the sports group were significantly different from the
control group: the sports group showed freer expression, more aggression, a
more evident state of anxiety, and relatively more effective control
mechanisms (kinetic responses). Data for the basketballers were
significantly different from those of the footballers: the basketballers had a
higher tendency toward static kinetics, and the footballers had a higher
anxiety index. Results are discussed in relation to the athletic capacity
specifically called for in particular types of sports: location on the court in
basketball, and active and direct struggle in football.
How to Write an Annotation
An annotation is a brief description of a book, article, or other publication,
including audio-visual materials. Its purpose is to characterize the publication in
such a way that the reader can decide whether or not to read the complete work.
Annotations vary according to their intended use and their content.
Descriptive Annotations describe the content of a book or article and indicate
distinctive features.
Critical Annotations, in addition to describing the contents, evaluate the usefulness
of a book or article for particular situations.
Elements of an annotation:
1. Begin with the complete bibliographic entry.
2. Include some or all of the following:

a. Authority and qualifications of the author, unless extremely well known.

e.g. "Based on twenty years of study, William A. Smith, professor of history
at XYZ University..."
b. Scope and main purpose of text. Do not try to summarize the whole work.
e.g. "Discusses the positive impact of Medicare on the psychiatric
profession."
c. Any bias that you note.
d. Audience and level of reading difficulty. Such a comment warns readers
of writings that are too elementary or scholarly for their purposes. e.g.
"Swift addressed himself to the scholar, but the concluding chapters will be
clear to any informed lay person."
e. The relation, if any, of other works in the field. "This corroborates the
findings of George Brown's Revolution."
f. Summary comment. e.g. "A popular account directed at educated adults."
3. Do not repeat the words of the title, give the same information in different
phrasing, or offer information that an intelligent person could readily infer from the
title.
4. Be concise.
SAMPLE DESCRIPTIVE ANNOTATION
London, Herbert. "Five Myths of the Television Age." Television Quarterly 10(1)
Spring 1982:81-89.
The author explains how television contradicts five ideas commonly
believed by most people, using specific examples seen on television, such as
the assassination of John Kennedy, to demonstrate his points. His examples

contradict such truisms as "seeing is believing", "a picture is worth a

thousand words", and "satisfaction is its own reward." London uses logical
arguments to support his ideas, and doesn't refer to any previous works on
the topic: the article is his personal opinion.
SAMPLE CRITICAL ANNOTATION
London, Herbert. "Five Myths of the Television Age." Television Quarterly 10(1)
Spring 1982:81-89.
Herbert London, a Dean at New York University and author of several books
and articles, explains how television contradicts five ideas commonly
believed by most people, using specific examples seen on television, such as
the assassination of John Kennedy, to demonstrate his points. His examples
contradict such truisms as "seeing is believing", "a picture is worth a
thousand words", and "satisfaction is its own reward." London uses logical
arguments to support his ideas, and doesn't refer to any previous works on
the topic: the article is his personal opinion. His style and vocabulary would
make the article of interest to any reader. The article clearly illustrates
London's points, but does not explore their implications, leaving the reader
with many unanswered questions.
How to Write an Annotated Bibliography
An annotated bibliography adds a brief summary of the contents of each item on
the list. Placed just below the facts of publication, the annotation describes the
essential details of the work and its relevance to the topic. It will help future
researchers determine whether or not to consult the work. Provide enough

information in about three sentences for a reader to have a fairly clear image of the
book's purpose, contents, and special value.
SAMPLE ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY ENTRY
Gibson, Walker. Tough, Sweet, and Stuffy. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1966.
This essay on modern prose styles describes the three extreme styles: tough
talk, sweet talk, and stuffy talk. Samples in the appendix are especially
helpful.
*Adapted from materials developed by the libraries at Earlham College and Xavier
University.

Transcript
You have just been given an assignment to write an annotated bibliography. Before
you begin, you need to know what exactly an annotated bibliography is and how to
get started.
First, what is an annotation?
An annotation is more than just a brief summary of an article, book, Web site or
other type of publication. An annotation should give enough information to make a
reader decide whether to read the complete work. In other words, if the reader were
exploring the same topic as you, is this material useful and if so, why?
How is an annotation different from an abstract?

While an abstract also summarizes an article, book, Web site or other type of
publication, it is purely descriptive. Although annotations can be descriptive, they
also include distinctive features about an item. Annotations can be evaluative and
critical as we will see when we look at the two major types of annotations.
What is an annotated bibliography?
An annotated bibliography is an organized list of sources (like a reference list). It
differs from a straightforward bibliography in that each reference is followed by a
paragraph length annotation, usually 100200 words in length.
Depending on the assignment, an annotated bibliography might have different
purposes:
Provide a literature review on a particular subject
Help to formulate a thesis on a subject
Demonstrate the research you have performed on a particular subject
Provide examples of major sources of information available on a topic
Describe items that other researchers may find of interest on a topic
Types of annotated bibliographies
There are two major types of annotated bibliographies:
1. Descriptive or informative
2. Analytical or critical

Descriptive or informative
A descriptive or informative annotated bibliography describes or summarizes a
source as does an abstract, it describes why the source is useful for researching a
particular topic or question, its distinctive features. In addition, it describes the
author's main arguments and conclusions without evaluating what the author says
or concludes.
For example:
Breeding evil. (2005, August 6). Economist, 376(8438), 9. Retrieved from
http://www.economist.com
This editorial from the Economist describes the controversy surrounding video
games and the effect they have on people who use them. The author points out that
skepticism of new media have gone back to the time of the ancient Greeks, so this
controversy surrounding video games is nothing new. The article also points out
that most critics of gaming are people over 40 and it is an issue of generations not
understanding one another, rather than of the games themselves. As the youth of
today grow older, the controversy will die out, according to the author. The author
of this article stresses the age factor over violence as the real reason for opposition
to video games and stresses the good gaming has done in most areas of human life.
This article is distinctive in exploring the controversy surrounding video games
from a generational standpoint and is written for a general audience.
Please pay attention to the last sentence. While it points out distinctive features
about the item it does not analyze the author's conclusions.

Analytical or critical
An analytical or critical annotation not only summarizes the material, it analyzes
what is being said. It examines the strengths and weaknesses of what is presented
as well as describing the applicability of the author's conclusions to the research
being conducted.
For most of your annotated bibliographies, however, you will be writing analytical
or critical annotations.
For example:
Breeding evil. (2005, August 6). Economist, 376(8438), 9. Retrieved from
http://www.economist.com
This editorial from the Economist describes the controversy surrounding video
games and the effect they have on people who use them. The article points out that
most critics of gaming are people over 40 and it is an issue of age not of the games
themselves. While the author briefly mentions studies done around the issue of
violence and gaming, he does not go into enough depth for the reader to truly know
the range of studies that have actually been done in this area, other than to take his
word that the research is unsatisfactory. The author of this article stresses the age
factor over violence as the real reason for opposition to video games and stresses
the good gaming has done in most areas of human life. This article is a good
resource for those wanting to begin to explore the controversy surrounding video
games, however for anyone doing serious research, one should actually examine
some of the research studies that have been done in this area rather than simply

take the author's word that opposition to video games is simply due to an issue of
generational divide.
Please pay attention to the last sentence. It criticizes the authors research.
Please note that in these samples, the citations follow the APA format. Your
instructor may require you to use another citation format, such as MLA, so check
first.
To get started
Now you are ready to begin writing your own annotated bibliography.
Choose your sources Before writing your annotated bibliography, you
must choose your sources. This involves doing research much like for
any other project. Locate records to materials that may apply to your
topic.
Review the items Then review the actual items and choose those that
provide a wide variety of perspectives on your topic. Article abstracts are
helpful in this process.
Write the citation and annotation When writing your annotation, the
complete citation should always come first and the annotation follows.
Depending on the type of annotated bibliography you are writing, you
will want to include:

1. The purpose of the work

2. A summary of its content

3. For what type of audience the work is written
4. Its relevance to the topic
5. Any special or unique features about the material
6. The strengths, weaknesses or biases in the material
Annotated bibliographies may be arranged alphabetically or chronologically, check
with your instructor to see what he or she prefers.
Guidelines for formatting the citations
Remember, the citations themselves must be formatted properly. UMUC has
prepared these guides to help you correctly format citations according to APA,
MLA or Chicago Style. Remember to check with your instructor if you are unsure
which style to use.
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