What is an annotated bibliography?
An annotated bibliography is a list of citations to books, articles, and documents. Each citation is followed by a brief descriptive and evaluative paragraph called an annotation. Annotated bibliographies serve several purposes.
- Help the researcher gain a perspective of others have said about their topic
- Helps the researcher decide which sources are the most useful for their research
- Helps the researcher organize their sources
- Requires researchers to critically think about the sources they have found
An annotated bibliography is formatted alphabetically and each entry in an annotated bibliography has two parts:
- The citation - the citation will be formatted in APA, MLA, Chicago, or other citation style
- The annotation - a paragraph or paragraphs directly underneath the citation
Creating an annotated bibliography
Creating an annotated bibliography involves several steps
- Search for sources that seem relevant to the research question or topic
- Critically examine and review each source
- Write a concise (usually a single paragraph of 100-200 words) about each source
- Properly format the entries, as well as the paper as a whole, according to the required citation style or instructor expectations
Annotated bibliography requirements
For your annotated bibliography you may be required to:
Summarize and/or describe
Summarizing a source for an annotated bibliography provides a brief overview of the purpose and findings of the source. It is objective and does not provide a critical look at the source. The answers to the following questions can help you prepare your summary.
- What was the thesis of the article?
- What methods of research were used?
- What did the author(s) conclude?
Evaluate
Evaluating a source involves determining whether the source is credible. The answers to some of the following questions can help you prepare your evaluation:
- What were the strengths and weaknesses of the research done?
- What methodology was used and was it sound?
- Was the analysis of the findings sufficient? Why or why not?
- Did the author ignore or not include pertinent information?
- Does the author have credibility in this field?
Reflect
Reflecting in an annotation involves explaining how the source informs (or doesn't inform) the research you are doing. The answers to the following questions can help you prepare your reflection:
- Did the source provide new information or insight to your research question and if so, what?
- Did it provide an unexpected or challenging point of view and if so, what?
- Is it merely interesting but only tangentially relevant?
- How will you use this source in your paper?
Annotated Bibliography Styles
The exact expectations of format and content will be a combination of the instructions for the assignment and the citation style required for the annotated bibliography. APA, MLA, and Chicago citation styles all have instructions on how to format annotated bibliographies. It may be one paragraph or several paragraphs. The OWL at Purdue has samples of different annotated bibliographies.
