Writing Annotation

Writing Annotations
What is annotation?
An annotation is a brief description of a book,
article, or other publication, including audiovisual materials.
The purpose of annotation is to characterize the
publication in such a way that the reader can
decide whether or not to read the complete
work.
Why should You know how to
write annotations?
• Helps you write annotations for future
publications
• Helps you in conducting research
• Helps you present complex information in a
clear, concise manner
• Helps you condense report information into a
short format
• Helps you read annotations more effectively
Types of annotation
Annotations vary according to their intended
use and their content.
• Descriptive/Informative annotations describe
the content of a book or article and indicate
distinctive features.
• Critical annotations, in addition to describing
the contents, evaluate the usefulness of a
book or article for particular situations.
Sample descriptive annotation
London, Herbert. "Five Myths of the Television Age."
Television Quarterly 10(1) Spring 1982:81-89.
The author explains how television contradicts five
ideas commonly believed by most people, using
specific examples seen on television, such as the
assassination of John Kennedy, to demonstrate his
points. His examples contradict such truisms as "seeing
is believing", "a picture is worth a thousand words",
and "satisfaction is its own reward." London uses
logical arguments to support his ideas, and doesn't
refer to any previous works on the topic: the article is
his personal opinion.
Qualities of an effective annotation
• Uses one well-developed paragraph, which is
unified, coherent, concise, and able to stand
alone (between100 to 200 words)
• Adds no new information - merely summarizes
• Contains stand-alone qualities - the
annotation can be understood without
reading the paper
• Is understandable to a wide audience
Other annotation samples
Фролов И.Г. Глобальные проблемы, человек и
судьбы человечества // Философия и политика в
современном мире. - М.: Наука, 1989.-С. 44-60.
Статья посвящена влиянию глобальных проблем
на различные стороны жизни человека и на
решение вопроса о будущем цивилизации. В
статье рассматриваются пути и методы решения
глобальных проблем мыслителями различных
направлений.
В. Наймушин. Рыночные реформы в России: можно ли
разорвать замкнутый круг истории? Вопросы экономики
2004 №10
Статья посвящена вопросам реформирования
бюджетных учреждений в сфере российской науки
как необходимого условия построения рыночно
ориентированной национальной инновационной
системы.
Анализируются
количественные
параметры сети бюджетных учреждений науки,
направления и характер проводимых государством
изменений,
предлагаются
сценарии
ее
реформирования. Рассматриваются возможные
последствия отложенных реформ и возникающие
при этом риски.
Market orientation for the Russian companies: setting
problems, research and perspectives
Keywords: innovation, marketing, market orientation,
strategic marketing
The article explains the problem questions from the
field of market orientation of Russian companies: the
distinctions in the terminology, the limitation of the
existing methodology and the practical use by the
managers. The authors give results of research among
216 companies of Moscow region, develop
methodology of how to study the market orientation
within internal environment of the company and
describe the perspective of the follow up research.
How do I write an annotation?
• Read the text carefully and answer the question:
‘What is the text about?’
• Formulate the main topic and subtopics
• Break the text into logical parts, give them titles
• Start annotation with bibliography (the author,
title, publisher,etc)
• Start sentences with the typical phrases (cliché):
‘the article discribes…’, ‘the paper shows…’, ‘the
publication deals with…’ etc.
• Use passive constructions
Clichés for annotation writing
The article introduces/presents/gives/describes…
The article reveals …
The article contains…
The article points out that …
The publication deals with…
The study/paper presents/discusses…
The paper shows/presents/regards/examines…
The author considers/outlines/concludes/ points out…
The author concentrates on…
The author views/reviews/ presents…
The author analyses how…/ examines why…/
Clichés for annotation writing
The author mentions/ stresses…
The author believes…
The author underlines that…/ outlines/ concludes…
According to the author/ in the author’s opinion
The author calls attention to the fact that….
The author analyses/ compares/determines/states
The author summarizes the results of…
Data shows/covers…