The citation can seem daunting to some students since they need to learn the style format of your program or your course and make sure that each and every item in the bibliography is cited accurately and completely. That requirement means including all the information, in the right order, and in the correct format. It also means putting the last name of the author of an article, book or document first and then the first name (with other names in normal—first name second name—order) and then the title of the document. It means knowing how to reference personal interviews, websites and documents found on the web but not in print. Some students also never learned—or forgot—that a bibliography is organized in alphabetical order by the last name of each author. Providing some examples, a sheet of instructions, or sharing bibliographical tools can make this part easier for many students.

The second part—the summary—should, theoretically, be easier since it only requires the student to summarize the key points in the document or to review the contents in a short paragraph. This first paragraph of an annotated bibliography should contain information about what the document covers, what information it contains, and how extensive it is. The practice of writing that summary makes students see the article or book as an entire document and encourages them to consider it from that perspective rather than just where they found a point they want to reference or a quote they want to use. It makes them pause and reflect a bit on what they are reading—one of the key qualities of critical thinking.

The assessment, part three, is often the most challenging since it requires a student to make an evaluation of the merits of the article, book, or other document. It makes them step back and think about the value of the document and whether it is objective, what is the point of view of the writer, what are the weaknesses of the description or analysis, what are the strengths of the discussion, and for what purposes is it a useful source. These questions promote them to think of the document from yet another perspective—its merits and its usefulness. To help them with this aspect of an annotated bibliography, I often suggest that they think of writing the assessment for other students in the course or faculty members in the program so that the focus on to what extent the document is worth reading and for what purposes is it worth reading. Forcing the students to make these assessments encourages analytical thinking and fosters making judgments about what they are reading, qualities of critical thinking we want to encourage.

Assigning Annotated Bibliographies
Since many students are not clear or have never seen an annotated bibliography, it helps to provide a clear assignment, some guidelines and some examples. Since these elements are so important, I have created a four-page handout explaining an annotated bibliography and showing examples of good and bad annotations. (If you want a copy, send me an email requesting it, and I will send you a copy.)

Criteria to Use in Evaluating Annotated Bibliographies
When making the requirement for students to submit annotated bibliographies, I often require, early in the course, a five-item annotated bibliography—graded on pass/fail basis—so that they have to complete a few items, and I can provide some feedback about how well or how poorly they were done. This practice assignment helps them when they later have to submit a paper accompanied by an annotated bibliography. At least they have learned how to compose an annotated bibliography, and their final paper does usually not have a lot of problems in the bibliography.

If you want to assign submitting an annotated bibliography as a standalone assignment and not one that builds to a larger paper, then the following criteria for evaluation might be useful in providing students with an awareness of what you are looking for in a good annotated bibliography. The criteria might include:

• Freedom from grammatical and spelling errors
• Accuracy in using the style format of your program
• Clarity of summary description
• Level of insight about the source

You may have other criteria, but I hope these four start you to think about what you might use.

Summary
Thank you for reading this column about assigning annotated bibliographies. If you have additional ideas, please let me know, and I will share them in future Mayo’s Clinics. Next month, we will discuss the differences between abstracts and executive summaries and the value of having students write those documents as a way of encouraging their critical thinking.

If you have suggestions for other topics, send them to me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., and I will include them in future Mayo’s Clinics.

Dr. Fred Mayo, CHE, CHT, is a clinical professor at New York University and a frequent presenter at CAFÉ events nationwide.