Sociology 131: Marriage & Intimate Relationships

For your paper, you must complete a short annotated bibliography. The purpose of your annotated bibliography is to inform the reader of the relevance, quality, and results of existing research on your chosen social issue. Your overall paper must include 2 minimum annotations of 2 original research articles, and each annotation must be a minimum of 100 words.

What is an Annotated Bibliography?

An annotated bibliography is list of cited sources with a short paragraph about each source. There are many different types of annotated bibliographies depending on what you would like to tell about your source.

An annotation is one of the cited sources is the bibliography list. To complete an annotation you should have a citation, usually in MLA, APA, or Chicago style, and a short paragraph description.

Steps to Writing An Annotation

Step 1: Cite the source properly using a citation style, either APA or MLA format.

Step 2: Summarize the content of the source. This information may be located in the Abstract or Conclusion of the source. What is the overall message? What are the biggest takeaways or things you learned? What is the conclusion reached by the source?

Step 3: Explain how this source is relevant to your topic. How does this source discuss your topic? How does it relate to your topic?

Step 4: Explain the methods or processes used in the source. This information may be located in the Methods section of the source. Does your source discuss an experiment, study, interviews, or other something else? What was done and who was included as participants?

Step 5: Name and describe the main points, key findings, and themes in your source.

Step 6: Describe the reliability and credibility of the author and the source itself.  Are they implying something not backed by evidence? Do they make statements not clearly linked to the evidence or data presented? Have other sources cited their work in response?

Example MLA 9 Style Annotation

[STEP 1] Waite, Linda J., et al. “Non-family Living and the Erosion of Traditional Family Orientations Among Young Adults.” American Sociological Review, vol. 51, no. 4, 1986, pp. 541–54. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/2095586. 

[STEP 2] The authors, sociological and health researchers at the Rand Corporation and Brown University, use data from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Young Women and Young Men to test their hypothesis that non-family living by young adults alters their attitudes, values, plans, and expectations, moving them away from their belief in traditional sex roles.  [STEP 4] Data was collected from that experiment in the 1960s using personal interviews and surveys from over 10,000 individuals. [STEP 5] They find their hypothesis strongly supported in young females, while the effects were fewer in studies of young males. They stated that increasing the time away from parents before marrying increased individualism, self-sufficiency, and changes in attitudes about families. [STEP 3] This study is relevant to the topic as it shows shifting attitudes around sex roles, women's roles in the labor force, and work planning amongst self-ascribed men and women from the 1960s until the 1980s. [STEP 6] In contrast, an earlier study by Williams cited below shows no significant gender differences in sex role attitudes as a result of non-family living. It is also noted that this is the beginning of research on other possible non-familty residencies for early adults, specifically as different forces (divorce, etc.) impact living situations. Since then, additional research has been conducted about these measures and their impact on family formation, labor and education including the authors' own book, New Families, No Families? in 1993. This may not be the most current research on this topic but it does provide a foundational understanding of attitudes and sex roles in family living during a twenty year period and is heavily cited by other sociologists investigating changing family roles.

Adapted from LMU Steps of an Annotated Bibliography LibGuide, University of Utah Sample Annotated Bibliographies.