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An annotated bibliography adds a summary of each source, written by you. It is a highly effective resource, as it ensures that you know exactly what is in a source and can relocate the source based on your own summary, later.

There are some specific types of annotated bibliographies related to some specific academic areas and types of research. Your instructor may have specific directions for what you should include in your annotations.

In general, one effective method of writing an annotation is to identify the thesis or main idea, a few sentences of other pertinent information, and a final statement of how the source relates to your overall research.

A summary condenses long information. It is in your own words and is the best place to start when taking research notes.

A summary of an entire article may be one or two paragraphs long, depending on how long and complicated the article is.

The first step in writing a summary is to make effective annotations while reading. Identify the main argument or thesis. Make notes of the main points that support this thesis. Identify any other information that seems to stand out.

Use these annotations to help you form one or two paragraphs that give an overview of the article. Be careful not to misconstrue any information or leave out important information.

You can also use much shorter summaries while doing research. A summary of a paragraph may be one or two sentences long. A summary of a long, complicated, paragraph doesn’t need to summarize everything. If there is just part of the paragraph that seems necessary, summarize it. However, be careful not to misconstrue information through omission.

You must cite a summary note. There is often a misunderstanding that one only needs to cite material that is word for word. However, we cite all specific source information. Create an in-text citation, using the academic style you have been assigned to use, for any specific information. You should also have a corresponding bibliographic entry for the source.

[For more information about in-text citation, see the Academic Styles section]

A paraphrase note is about the same length as the original source material, but it is in your own words.

A paraphrase note works best for technical or complicated information that cannot be made shorter without losing the original meaning. By putting concepts in your own words, you can make them easier to understand for both you and the reader. However, you do need to be very careful not to misinterpret the source information.

One would not usually paraphrase more than one or two sentences of text. If the source text is longer than that, then a summary note would likely be best.

As with a summary note, you must cite paraphrase notes. They may be in your own words, but they are still the source’s ideas.

A quotation note, or quote, is the exact same wording as the original source information: word-for-word.

Quotations are often the most overused research notes by student writers. A quote should be used when it is the style of the original source material that you are trying to capture, or if you need to really make sure that the reader knows that the source material is not your own because it is offensive or contradictory.

Quotations are more effective in writing about literature and other situations in which analysis is being used. If the information you are making a note about is statistical, then a summary or paraphrase would likely be more appropriate.

Always be sure to put quotation marks around a quotation immediately. You do not want to accidentally forget if you use the note later. In-text citation lets the reader know that the source material is not yours, but quotation marks let the reader know that the words are not yours.

Avoid long quotations. Often just a sentence is enough. If you must use a longer quotation, follow your chosen academic style's guidelines. Longer quotations need a special format, called a block-quote. Different academic styles have different guidelines for using block quotes.

Articles written for newspapers, magazines, and websites tend to be shorter, easier to read, and written for a general audience. Academic articles are generally written for specific audiences within the academic community. They are usually published in academic journals, which are print or online publications that are published by universities or other non-profit research groups.

Academic articles are often published under peer review, meaning that the editors of the journal ask a panel of researchers in the field to review and give feedback on the research before publication. The peer review panel may, then, decline the research, ask for revision, or recommend publication with no changes.

An academic article may take many different forms, including, but not limited to:

Case study: A researcher may have noticed a singular phenomenon that seems unusual or interesting which could lead to changes or challenges to the current thinking on a topic. A case study details these observations and often proposes further research.

Theoretical article: A researcher, often one with a lot of experience, proposes a new approach to a concept in a particular field. Although the writer will often cite other works, the writing is mostly of a reflective nature.

Review: An article that gives a detailed analysis of one or more published works, placing the source material into a larger academic context.

Study: Often a longer article which gives the findings of a scientific research study. These usually include some kind of overview of the current research, the narrowed context in which the researchers limited their study, an overview of how the study was conducted, and a reflection on the results.

Study review: A study review specifically analyzes many relevant studies in relationship to a specific academic topic. This may be done to bring many different findings from many different researchers under one set of relative data or may be completed to find common themes in a topic that is very complex.

Because academic articles are generally written by people with advanced college degrees for other people with advanced degrees and usually within a narrow topic area with its own lingo and phrasing, these articles can be extra challenging to read.

However, there are ways to make it easier:

• Print the article. Research has shown that we tend to skim when reading on a screen. This is the reason why articles for websites often have extra formatting cues built-in to help you stay focused and to draw your attention to important points. Academic articles, even when published on the web, tend to lack such formatting. Reading a print copy can help trick you into following along better. Plus, you can easily annotate a print copy.
• Annotate as you read. Mark words that are unclear and look them up. Write notes as you go. Underline important information.
• Identify the thesis or main point. Depending upon the publication style of the journal, the thesis may be a one-sentence argument at the end of a short introduction. Or it may be a bit longer. Alternatively, it may only be in the conclusion.
• Recognize formatting cues. Journal articles tend to follow a common organization. Studies tend to use subject headings and follow a pattern. Even reviews may use subject headings if they are longer.
• Don’t get bogged down in technicalities (but don’t misrepresent the information). Studies usually include a description of how the test was administered and how the results were compiled. This tends to get really mathy. Don’t let yourself get overwhelmed by it. Usually skimming this information will suffice. It may be important to understand that a study uses observation or interviews as opposed to a standardized test. It is important to know how large and diverse the test population is. However, it may not be so important to understand statistics terms like what the “t variable for the n population” means.
• Study the summary. Possibly the most important part of a study is the summary section. This may have different names, depending upon the style of the journal, but usually after giving the data, the researchers will reflect on what all this data means in context of the larger issues and may make suggestions for further research or action. This is where the really important information in a study happens. You can often use this information to help you develop and support your own arguments in your own writing.

If you find an academic article useful, look for some of the sources cited in the article. Following the citations in an article is a great method of building a background of information.