Always check with your instructor for specific assignment guidelines. This usually means you will find a number of sources on your chosen topic, and provide a citation as well as both a summary of that source and a description of how that source will help you in your research. An annotated bibliography is a list of citations to books, articles, and documents. The purpose of the annotation is to inform the reader of the relevance, accuracy, and quality of the sources cited. Each citation is followed by a brief (usually about 150 words) descriptive and evaluative paragraph, the annotation. Structure and Writing Style Introduction Your bibliography should include a brief introductory paragraph that explains the rationale for selecting the sources. The annotated bibliography looks like a works cited page but includes an annotation after each source cited. Annotations can either be descriptive or evaluative.

They typically do not include evaluation comments. You may be asked to create an annotated bibliography as an assignment in one of your courses. An annotated bibliography is a list of citations to books, articles, and documents. An abstract is a paragraph at the beginning of the paper that discusses the main point of the original work. Therefore, an annotated bibliography includes a summary and/or evaluation of each of the sources.' They are usually used in research projects to provide a comprehensive but focused overview of the critical discussions on a topic. A bibliography usually just includes the bibliographic information (i.e., the author, title, publisher, etc.).Īn annotation is a summary and/or evaluation. An annotated bibliography is a list of the sources youve used in your research with brief annotations for each that describe the source’s content and summarise its main argument.

In addition to bibliographic data, an annotated bibliography provides a concise summary of each source and some assessment of its value or relevance. Like any bibliography, an annotated bibliography is an alphabetical list of research sources. Bibliographies are sometimes called 'References' or 'Works Cited' depending on the style format you are using. An annotated bibliography gives an account of the research that has been done on a given topic. 'A bibliography is a list of sources (books, journals, Web sites, periodicals, etc.) one has used for researching a topic. Here is a great definition from Purdue University's Online Writing Lab:

Annotated bibliography of an article