Introduction to the Study of History
The Annotated Bibliography

1. After your topic has been defined and before you begin serious reading, you should first
    prepare a Working Bibliography of primary and secondary sources.

2. Compile a Working Bibliography by following these steps:

    A. Using a standard survey text or the computerized card catalog (BraveCat), locate one or more good (i.e.
        recent and by reputable historians) secondary sources that deal with your topic. Or find an
        article in an appropriate academic encyclopedia, like the Encyclopedia Britannica, which is available
        on-line through UNC Pembroke's library (not a popular encyclopedia like the World
        Book or the unreliable on-line Wikipedia). From either source, obtain an overview of your topic; write down facts,
        events, names, or questions that occur to you; these will become guides to future research. Scan the author's notes
        and bibliography, writing down titles that appear useful. Note if there exist bibliographic guides for your topic.

    B. Using your list of facts, events, names, etc. and your bibliographic entries, go to the library:
        using the Catalog, Standard Secondary Works, Indexes, etc, prepare, using  a word processing program,
        a bibliography of available materials; it should include primary sources and  secondary sources (books and
        articles). For the final bibliography, a minimum of ten (10) items is required, five of which must be primary sources.
        The others must be books, articles in scholarly journals (like The American Historical Review or The Journal of
        Modern History
), or reputable Internet resources.

        Recommended Format (use Rampolla as your guide):

            Twyman, Michael.

                    Lithography 1800-1850. The Techniques of Drawing on Stone in England and
                    France and Their Application in Works of Topography.
                    London: Oxford University Press, 1970


3. Locate each book or article and skim it, asking yourself: does this source help me with my topic?
    If not, write a note on the back of your card and save the card; if so, write a brief annotation on
    the card summarizing the content of the source and indicating how it will help.

4. When you have completed your search and have located the required ten primary, secondary, and internet
    sources, prepare an annotated bibliography to be turned in.

An Annotated Bibliography on
(Your Topic)

I. Primary Sources.

II. Secondary Sources.

    A. Books.

        1. James, John. Chartres. The Masons Who Built a Legend. London: Routledge & Kegan
            Paul, 1982. BX 4629.C47.C374.

            A careful analysis by an architect of how Chartres Cathedral was actually built. By
            painstakingly studying the stones used to build the cathedral, James has identified the work
            of each separate team of masons and the sequence in which the parts of the building were

        2. Panofsky, Erwin. Gothic Architecture and Scholasticism. Cleveland and New York:
            Meridian Books; The World Publishing Company, 1957.

            A profound and controversial essay in which Professor Panofsky parallels the development
            of Gothic architecture with that of scholastic philosophy. In the words of Whitney S.
            Stoddard, Panofsky "connects the more encyclopaedic and co-ordinated Summae of the
            thirteenth century with the design of High Gothic cathedrals. According to Panofsky, the
            controlling principle of Scholasticism and Gothic architecture is manifestatio: elucidation or
            clarification. Starting in the early thirteenth century, the systematic articulation of the
            Summae as books with an overall plan of chapters and subdivisions points to the
            ambition of the Scholastics: the achievement of a comprehensive and explicit order in their
            writings, 'a postulate of clarification for clarification's sake.' In general terms, Panofsky
            equates this principle of clarification in the Summae with the 'principle of transparency'--a
            dominant principle of High Gothic architecture."

    B. Articles in Scholarly Journals.

        1. Dow, Helen J. "The Rose Window," Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes
            20 (July 1957): 248-297.

            [Annotation following the format above]

III. Internet Resources

IV. Indexes/Research Aids Consulted:

    1. The Humanities Index, 1950-1984. Topics researched: Chartres Cathedral; Gothic
        Cathedral; etc . . . .

This Page is Maintained by Robert W. Brown;
Last Update: 25.VII.2007.

Return to the HST300 Homepage.