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What's needed in an annotated bibliography?
It depends of what level you are and what grade you want. See the Information Literacy Rubric and Criteria for Evaluation.
Sample Annotation #1
Zemel, Carol. "Sorrowing Women, Rescuing Men: Van Gogh's Images Of Women And Family." Art History 10.3 (1987): 351. Art Source. Web. 9 June 2015.
[Author Credentials] Carol Zemel is an art historian with a PhD from Columbia University. She has authored many books and articles in art journals. She was a Professor in the Department of Visual Art & Art History at New York University.
[Audience/Type of Information] Art History is a peer-reviewed journal. The audience for it is art historians and probably undergraduate majors in art history. The article is an in-depth discussion (24 pages) on the topic. It contains only black and white illustrations. Otherwise, the text is mostly text-based with lots of footnotes and a bibliography.
[Bias / Point of View] The author has a feminist focus, and she uses historical information to demonstrate that VG's paintings of women reflected society views on female sexuality and prostitution. She argues that he viewed prostitutes as fallen women who could be saved through a proper domestic life. The author questions the 19th century male assumption of what all women inherently wanted.
[Currency of the Source] This article was published in 1987, which was after the feminist theory had been well developed so that perspective is included. There were a couple of other articles about Van Gogh and women that I can also use as a comparison.
[Relevance to Paper] This article discusses the images of women and family in the paintings Vincent van Gogh. I was interested in Van Gogh’s views about women and there was a substantial number of examples and theories of Van Gogh’s view about women that I can use in my paper.
Sample Annotation #2
Cashdan, Marina. "Tim Burton: Hailing Filmdom's Oddest Artist." Modern Painters 21.8 (2009): 48-57. Art Source. Web. 11 June 2015.
[Author Credentials] Marina Cashdan attended Columbia University. She is writer and editor whose work regularly appears in the New York Times, Huffington Post, Style Magazine, Frieze, Art in America, among other arts magazines. She was formerly the executive editor at Modern Painters. She is currently the editorial director of Artsy.
[Audience/Type of Information] Modern Painters is very glossy arts magazine, filled with photos and advertising. The audience for this is definitely artists, but also the general educated public with an interest in the arts. Tim Burton has mass appeal, so this could also be classified at General Interest/Substantial News.
[Purpose / Bias / Point of View] I think the point of view is promotional. Essentially, the publication promotes activities of the art world, especially New York. This article promoted Tim Burton who was having an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art. She is basically arguing that Burton is an artist as well as a filmmaker.
[Relevance to Paper] This article is perfect for my paper because she interviewed Burton and includes quotes to show how he perceives himself. There are also many images of his work, most of which are not seen in the books I’ve found.
Sample Annotation #3
Wallace, Amy, and Tim Burton. "Tim Burton /." Los Angeles Magazine 56.5 (2011): 38-40. OmniFile Full Text Select (H.W. Wilson). Web. 11 June 2015.
[Author Credentials] Amy Wallace is an award-winning journalist whose work has appeared many well-known popular magazines including GQ, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Esquire, and Elle. She spent four years as a Senior Writer at Los Angeles Magazine and is now Editor-at-Large.
[Audience/Type of Information] Los Angeles Magazine is a large-circulation popular magazine. Tim Burton has mass appeal, so this could be classified at General Interest/Substantial News.
[Purpose / Bias / Point of View] I think the point of view is promotional. Essentially, the publication promotes people or activities associated with Los Angeles. In this case, Burton was having an exhibition at LACMA.
[Relevance to Paper] This article is very short, but Burton does discuss his involvement with Los Angeles, his education at CalArts and his exhibition at LACMA. It gave me some basic facts, but not much more.
Sample Annotation #4
Stasukevich, lain. "Reclaiming Art." American Cinematographer 96.1 (2015): 30-36. Art Source. Web. 11 June 2015.
[Author Credentials] Stasukevich is a staff writer for American Cinematographer. I could find no other information on him anywhere except in IMDB, it says he is a camera person and he has one TV credit.
[Audience/Type of Information] American Cinematographer is a trade magazine published in Hollywood. I can tell because it is filled with ads for cameras and movies. The information in the articles is fairly technical providing information on camera settings, lighting, and lenses.
[Purpose / Bias / Point of View] The article interviews Bruno Delbonnel, cinematographer for Burton, asking him questions about his vision for the movie Big Eyes. The purpose is to share Delbonnel’s approach to visual effects and photography with other filmmakers.
[Relevance to Paper] Because I am a digital major, I found this information very relevant to me. It gave me information about why and how Burton and his cinematographer collaborate to make an interesting movie. Collaboration is one of the points I plan to discuss in my paper.
Note on Citation Formats
In August 2016, MLA 8th edition was released. It uses a different citation format than the 7th edition (see citations above). Use whatever syle as specified by your instructor. If you are unsure, pick a format and be consistent.
Here are the same articles in the new citation format:
Zemel, Carol. "Sorrowing Women, Rescuing Men: Van Gogh's Images of Women and Family." Art History, vol. 10, no. 3, Sept. 1987, pp. 351-368. Art Source, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=asu&AN=7347471&site=ehost-live. Accessed 15 August 2016.
Cashdan, Marina. "Tim Burton: Hailing Filmdom's Oddest Artist." Modern Painters, vol. 21, no. 8, Nov. 2009, pp. 48-57. Art Source, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=asu&AN=505267791&site=ehost-live. Accessed 15 August 2016.
Wallace, Amy, and Tim Burton. "Tim Burton /." Los Angeles Magazine, vol. 56, no. 5, May 2011, pp. 38-40. OmniFile Full Text Select (H.W. Wilson), search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ofs&AN=504544293&site=ehost-live. Accessed 15 August 2016.
Stasukevich, lain. "Reclaiming Art." American Cinematographer, vol. 96, no. 1, Jan. 2015, pp. 30-36. Art Source, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=asu&AN=100203544&site=ehost-live. Accessed 15 August 2016.
More information about the changes via EasyBib and the Purdue OWL.