An annotated bibliography is a list of citations to books, articles, and documents. Each citation is followed by a brief (usually between 200-400 words) descriptive and evaluative paragraph, the annotation. The purpose of the annotation is to inform the reader of the relevance, accuracy, and quality of the sources cited.
Your entries can be compiled from class readings and the readings you bring together that interest you on a specific topic. These will review major terms and ideas, critique these ideas and tenets, and analyze their application to design practice. You will first provide me with a list of materials you plan to review (Oct. 22), and then second review them using the online platform Zotero (Oct. 29). Zotero will allow you to begin to build your own online library of key and cutting-edge work while including your own notes and structuring the readings into lists useful to you.
In brief, here’s an outline for writing 1-2 paragraphs per summary. It’s fine to be brief or go on to the maximum but make sure you really nail what each piece is about. It may take a few drafts to be clear.
- This article is about… (1-3 sentences)
- Why this is important… (1-2 sentences)
- How did they do it (methods)… (1 sentence)
- Key findings (1-4 sentences)
- Summary argument (1-2 sentences)