Skip to Main Content

Writing Resources

This guide contains all of the ASC's writing resources. If you do not see a topic, suggest it through the suggestion box on the Writing home page.

Outlining and Annotating Resources

Writing an Annotated Bibliography

An annotated bibliography is a summary and evaluation of a resource. Writing an annotated bibliography will help you gain an in-depth understanding of your topics and is useful for organizing and cataloging resources for use when developing an argument. An annotated bibliography begins with an APA formatted reference followed by one or two paragraphs of text that summarizes the study, evaluates the reliability of the information, and evaluates how the information relates to previous and future research. 

 

This table provides a high-level outline of the structure of a research article and how each section relates to important information for developing an annotated bibliography.

Abstract: Reviewing this section allows the reader to develop a quick understanding of the "why" the study was conducted, the methodology that was used, the most important findings, and why the findings are important.

  • Reviewing this section is important as it helps you quickly evaluate if the study is applicable to your specific topic or needs. 
 
Article Section Questions for Developing the Annotated Bibliography

Introduction

(Provides the background and sets the stage for the study)
  • What is the research topic?
  • What previous research is being used to support this research?
  • What is the researcher wanting to learn?
    • The hypothesis.
  • Why is the study important?

Methodology

(The how-to manual of the study)
  • What was the research method/design? 
  • What are the characteristics of the participants?
  • What did the participants do?
  • How was the data collected?
  • What did the researchers do?
Findings/Results: This section will include the results of the data analysis. This section often provides graphs, tables, and figures that correspond with the type of analysis conducted.

Discussion and Summary

(The researcher provides context and relates the findings to the research questions.)
  • Why are the findings important?
  • What are the research implications?
  • Do the findings agree with previous research?
    • Why or why not?
  • Did the researcher answer the research question?
  • What new research does the researcher/s suggest? 

Annotated Bibliography Sample Outline

Author, S. A. (date of publication). Title of the article. Title of Periodical, vol. (issue), page-page. https://doi.org/XXXXXX

Write one or two paragraphs that focus on the study and its findings.

  1. Two or more sentences that outline the thesis, hypothesis, and population of the study.
  2. Two or more sentences that discuss the methodology.
  3. Two or more sentences that discuss the study findings. 
  4. One or more sentences evaluating the study and its relationship to other studies.

Outlining (Scholarly Writing) - Group Session

Outlining (Scholarly Writing) Icon Hand drawing a mind map

Tuesday 4:00 p.m. 

Outlining is a way of organizing ideas and is a helpful strategy for academic success. There are multiple ways to outline and doing so before and after composing a paper can help with the paper's arrangement and help ensure alignment with assignment prompts. This group session will include general organization techniques, creating an outline from an assignment prompt, creating an outline from a thesis, outlining for larger projects, and reverse outlining. 

Was this resource helpful?