History of Toys

Evaluative Annotations

Evaluative annotations provide a detailed explanation of your information evaluation process. They are required for some assignments. 

Usually, annotations simply explain the relevance of a source to your project---why you used the source, why it's noteworthy, and other comments. At Otis, we have expanded annotations to include details about why you believe---or don't believe---a source is trustworthy. You will be prompted to consider things like the reliability, validity, accuracy, authority, timeliness, and point of view of sources.

Annotations done "the Otis way" encourage you to think critically about any information source. They also help assess your information literacy skills.

Depending on the level of your class and guidelines set by your professor, your annotations should cover 3-6 of these criteria:

• Authority / Credibility
• Audience / Type of Source
• Purpose / Point of View
• Currency
• Coverage / Scope
• Relevancy

Sample annotations

Information Literacy Rubrics

The basic criteria for each level are listed below. Always check your course or assignment's rubric in the Nest.