An annotated bibliography is a list of citations to books, articles, and documents, where each citation is followed by a brief descriptive and evaluative paragraph called an annotation. The purpose of an annotated bibliography is to provide the reader with a summary and an evaluation of each source. Depending on the project or assignment, annotations may do one or more of the following:
- Summarize the source
- Evaluate the sources strengths and weaknesses
- Comment on the sources conclusions
- Explain why the source is relevant in the field of study
- Compare or contrast the source with another cited source
- Reflect on how the source fits into the research project
Annotated bibliographies can be used as a stand-alone assignment or as a component of a larger assignment. They are useful for getting acquainted with the material available on a particular topic, reviewing the literature of a particular subject, demonstrating the quality and depth of reading that has been done, and exploring and organizing sources for further research. Annotated bibliographies can also help researchers gain a good perspective on what is being said about a topic and develop their own point of view.
Annotated bibliographies typically contain two main sections: the bibliographic information section and the annotations section. The bibliographic information section includes the citation information for each source, while the annotations section includes the descriptive and evaluative paragraph for each source. Annotations can be either descriptive or evaluative. Descriptive annotations summarize the source, while evaluative annotations provide critical appraisals of the source or author to find any biases, lack of evidence, objectives, etc. .
The formatting of an annotated bibliography depends on the citation style being used, such as MLA, APA, or Chicago. The annotation section of an annotated bibliography should be in standard paragraph form and can include four elements: the citation, a summary, an assessment, and a personal reflection. The length of an annotation is typically around 100-300 words, but this may vary depending on the assignment guidelines.
