WRT 204 (Cooke)

1. Use the Literature Matrix tool to collaborate with your teammates and collect sources
2. To save your own copy, click the link above > click File > "make a copy."
3. Share your literature matrix with your teammates & start taking notes! 

Parts of an annotation

1. MLA citation
2. Summary of the source: Explain the main points of the work briefly. Your summary should be original to you -- don't just copy/paste the publisher summary of a book or the abstract from a scholarly article.
3. Evaluation and/or commentary: 
   1. Authority: is the author [or publisher] qualified and/or has expertise in the content area? what's their background (in relation to the topic)? 
   2. Relevance: how valuable, effective, or useful was this source in your research? 
   3. Context: who is the intended audience of this source? what is the purpose of it? does there seem to be any bias? are there gaps in coverage?
4. Explanation on how you intend to use the source.

Useful websites

• Purdue Online Writing Lab: Annotated Bibliographies

  Covers examples for all three major citation styles.

• Critically Analyzing Information Sources: Critical Appraisal and Analysis

  This page from Cornell offers suggestions on how to tackle critically appraising an information source.