Library Guides: APA Guide : Annotated Bibliography

What is an Annotated Bibliography

An Annotated Bibliography is a Reference list of entries followed by short descriptions of the work called annotations. The purpose is to present a focused review of the sources on a topic and to help you as a researcher to better understand the topic and resources. Each annotation describes and evaluates the work and should be only 1 or 2 paragraphs. Check with your instructor in case there are further parameters.

There are 2 types of annotations:

Descriptive or summary annotations describe the work and answer these questions:
- What is the work about?
- Who wrote it?
- What is the work's purpose?
- When and why was it written?
- Who is the intended audience?
Evaluative annotations critically evaluate the work and answer these questions in addition to the above questions:
- Is the work relevant?
- What is the quality of the work?
- Is it accurate?
- Are there any biases?
- What are the strengths and weaknesses of the work?

This content based on What is an annotated bibliography? from Red Deer Polytechnic CC BY-NC-SA4.0

Creating an Annotated Bibliography

Identify your sources
- Ensure you have focused your research topic or question and determined the question or problem you are investigating.
- Determine the type of material you are looking for: books, articles, etc.
- Identify a few good sources and consult the footnotes, bibliography, or related readings pane in the library's Search Everything tool to find more related resources.
Create your reference list
- Identify the type of resource you are referencing and locate the type in the left-side pane of this guide. Type examples: book, journal, etc.
- Review the steps in this guide for how to format your list of references.
Create your annotations
- Determine if you need to create a descriptive/summary or evaluative annotation. You may need to ask your instructor if you aren't sure.
- Review the work you are annotating by reading it or looking at the following to be able to write your annotation:
  - Read the introduction or abstract of the resource, but do not copy it as that is plagiarism.
  - Review the conclusions, results, or discussion sections of the resource if it's an article.
  - Consult the table of contents
  - Look for book reviews if it's a book
See the box above for questions to consider when writing your annotation.

Formatting an Annotated Bibliography

Check with your instructor on how to format your annotated bibliography, in case there is any particular formatting or content you must include.
Format and order the references in alphabetical order in the same way that you order the references in your reference list.
Use your reference list for each entry and then put the annotation underneath each reference.
Make each annotation a new paragraph below the reference entry. Indent the entire annotation 0.5 inches from the left margin under your reference entry.
If the annotation spans multiple paragraphs, indent the first line of the second and any subsequent paragraphs 0.5 inches just as you have indented the first paragraph.
See the APA Manual, page 307 for further guidance.

Examples

Annotated Bibliography Samples from Purdue OWL

Example Annotated Bibliography from Red Deer Polytechnic

Examples from University of Toronto