Sample Annotated Bibliography (with explanatory comments)
Nicholson, Helen. "Women on the Third Crusade." Journal of Medieval History 23.4 (1997): 335-49.
In this article, Nicholson explores the controversial question of whether, and to what extent, women participated in armed conflict during the Third Crusade [This sentence identifies the central question of the article]. After reviewing different historians' views on the issue, she examines the widely different depictions of women's participation in the crusade given in Muslim and Christian accounts [This sentence explains the sources that she used]. Nicholson exposes the biases within both Muslim and Christian accounts to examine how Muslim sources tended to exaggerate women's participation in armed conflict while Christian sources tended to conceal women's roles. Ultimately, she argues that while women played many important support roles during the Crusades, their participation in armed conflict was limited to extremely dire battles [The previous two sentences explain the thesis of the article]. This article provides an excellent overview of the primary and secondary sources associated with the debate over the participation of women in armed conflict during the Crusades; it will help to support my argument that, while they were essential to the Crusades, women were limited in the roles that they could play within them due to social stigma [This sentence explains how the article will be relevant to your essay].