Creating Annotations

Annotations describe (summarize important content) and evaluate (critically analyze) the resource based on standard criteria. An annotation differs from an abstract or summary, as abstracts and summaries usually only describe or summarize the content and do not critically evaluate.  

For the Module 3 research assignment, each student will prepare a clearly written descriptive and evaluative annotation for each of the six information resources found. Be sure to include the following:

• Provide specific information that describes the content of the source. What in the content specifically answers or relates to your research question or thesis statement? This will usually be at least two sentences.
• State specific criteria used to evaluate the resource. Why is it a good or high quality information resource? You will want to refer to and comment on the specific criteria presented earlier in this module. 

If, after evaluating a resource, the resource is seen as poor or inadequate, do not include it. Please keep looking for quality resources to include and annotate in the final project. 

A good annotation will:

• Describe the qualifications of the author or organization presenting the information.
• Describe the content and tell how it answers the research question.
• Use third person language (Not: I, me, my).

Sample Annotations

Annotations will usually average six sentences. See the sample citation and annotations for a book below: 

MLA:
Fallon, Steve. Hungary: A Travel Survival Kit. Berkeley: Lonely
      Planet, 2005. 

This Lonely Planet guide book is a comprehensive travel guide to Hungary. There are six detailed maps of Budapest's various neighborhoods, and additional maps of other urban areas and historic sites. Information on using the bus, train and subway systems is clearly presented for each locale at the end of each chapter. Separate chapters on local customs, food and festivals are all useful for someone planning a trip to Hungary. This is a completely updated and revised edition with an extensive language section and glossary. The author is qualified because he has lived abroad, is a former editor of Business Traveller magazine and has written many books and articles on travel. Lonely Planet is a well respected publisher of travel guides.

APA:
Douglas RM & Hemilä H (2005) Vitamin C for Preventing and Treating the
      Common Cold. PLoS Medicine, 2(6), e168. Retrieved December 2,
      2005 from http://medicine.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-
      document&doi=10.1371/journal.pmed.0020168

This article is published in a peer-reviewed medical journal. The authors are professionals in the field of Public Health. Robert M. Douglas is from the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia. Harri Hemilä is from the Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, Finland. The authors incorporated 55 comparative studies that have been carried out over a period of 65 years. They used scientific methodology to analyze the studies to determine if there is evidence for the efficacy of using Vitamin C to combat the common cold. They found that there is not sufficient evidence to indicate that Vitamin C is effective in preventing the common cold. The article has a list of related literature references. The article is very current and has used a large body of scientific literature to reach its conclusion.

The above examples illustrates good annotations. Each one has evaluative information, including specific recognition of the credentials of the authors. The following annotation is an example of a low quality annotation: 

I liked this book. This was a good book about Hungary, because it had alot of good information for people going to Hungary. It has more information than the Internet.

Additional samples of good annotations can be viewed in the Sample Module 3 Assignments.

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