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Annotated Bibliographies

Guidelines for creating annotated bibliographies.

What is an Annotated Bibliography?

An annotated bibliography is a list of citations to sources, such as books and articles. Each citation is followed by an annotation, a brief descriptive and evaluative paragraph about 150 words long, that analyzes the source. An annotated bibliography usually looks like any other bibliography with alphabetized citations of sources, except that here each source is followed by an explanatory paragraph. The purpose of the annotation is to inform on the relevance, accuracy, and quality of the sources cited, and this work can form the basis of a literature review later in the writing process.

Types of annotations 

  • Descriptive: states the topic of the source only
  • Evaluative: evaluates the source, which may include placing the work in context of other research or evaluating its usefulness. This is the type expected for most research assignments. 
  • Summary: summarizes the source but does not take a stance or make an argument about the source.

Creating an Annotated Bibliography

Research

Select Topic

Your topic should be neither too broad nor too narrow, but engage with a specific research question. You may not have a thesis but will form one in the course of reading sources. Consider some strategies for selecting and refining a topic.

Locate Sources 

This is a time-consuming process when writing an annotated bibliography. You are looking for sources that work together to support or refute your research question, not just the first few sources available. You should also consider a variety of sources, including books, articles, primary sources, and reference materials. Check the Research Guide in your discipline for suggestions. 

Read and Evaluate Sources

Evaluating a source is about more than reading the abstract. As part of the annotation, you should provide the following information: a summary of the source, the intended audience, a critical evaluation of the argument, and a contextual analysis of how it fits in your own research. 

Writing

Create Citations 

The citation is the first piece of information a reader will see, and should conform to one of the major citation style guides. Most guides require a "hanging first line," whereby the first line of the citation sits further to the right on the page with subsequent lines indented. This is a special indentation feature offered in the paragraph formatting section of Word (or other word-processing software). Don't try to indent by just adding spaces.

Write Annotations

Each annotation immediately follows the citation, and consists of a short, evaluative paragraph. It can include a very brief summary of the source, along with information about the author(s) and intended audience, followed by a critical analysis of the source in relation to your topic and research question. 

Review

Content

Ask yourself: Does it cover my topic? Is it a good representation of the sources available on the topic?  An annotated bibliography isn't only a list of sources; the annotations should indicate some relationship between the sources and how they work together in the context of your research. 

Style and Format 

As a final check, be sure all the citations are formatted in accordance with your chosen style guide. Also make sure the overall organization of the bibliography makes sense in the context of the research question. 

What About Formatting?

Most of the major citation styles call for a hanging first line on annotated bibliographies. This means the first line of the citation will align with the left margin of the page, and all subsequent lines of the citation and annotation will indent to the right. 

Annotated Bibliography Samples

APA

Stoll, J. S., Leslie, H. M., Britsch, M. L. & Cleaver, C. M. (2019). Evaluating aquaculture as a diversification strategy for Maine's commercial fishing sector in the face of change. Marine Policy, 107(103583), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2019.103583

This article discusses the growth of the aquaculture sector in Maine and analyzes the overlap between commercial fishing licenses and aquaculture leases and licenses to determine the extent to which commercial fishers are diversifying into aquaculture. A small percentage of commercial fishers are licensed to do aquaculture and instead, those getting into aquaculture appear to be a new group of ocean users. This has implications for efforts to diversify commercial fishing-dependent livelihoods as a response to climate change impacts. This is relevant to my research in which I am exploring the potential for aquaculture to be a diversification strategy for commercial fishermen. I will likely use this source as supporting evidence that such a transition does not currently appear to be taking place other than for a minority of commercial fishermen.

Chicago Notes & Bibliography

Stoll, Joshua S., Heather M. Leslie, Melissa L. Britsch, and Caitlin M. Cleaver. "Evaluating Aquaculture as a Diversification Strategy for Maine's Commercial Fishing Sector in the Face of Change." Marine Policy 107, (2019): 103583.

This article discusses the growth of the aquaculture sector in Maine and analyzes the overlap between commercial fishing licenses and aquaculture leases and licenses to determine the extent to which commercial fishers are diversifying into aquaculture. A small percentage of commercial fishers are licensed to do aquaculture and instead, those getting into aquaculture appear to be a new group of ocean users. This has implications for efforts to diversify commercial fishing-dependent livelihoods as a response to climate change impacts. This is relevant to my research in which I am exploring the potential for aquaculture to be a diversification strategy for commercial fishermen. I will likely use this source as supporting evidence that such a transition does not currently appear to be taking place other than for a minority of commercial fishermen.

MLA

The annotation should be indented one inch from the start of the citation, while the hanging indent should be indented half an inch.

Stoll, Joshua S., et al. "Evaluating Aquaculture as a Diversification Strategy for Maine's Commercial Fishing Sector in the Face of Change." Marine Policy, vol. 107, 2019, pp. 103583.

This article discusses the growth of the aquaculture sector in Maine and analyzes the overlap between commercial fishing licenses and aquaculture leases and licenses to determine the extent to which commercial fishers are diversifying into aquaculture. A small percentage of commercial fishers are licensed to do aquaculture and instead, those getting into aquaculture appear to be a new group of ocean users. This has implications for efforts to diversify commercial fishing-dependent livelihoods as a response to climate change impacts. This is relevant to my research in which I am exploring the potential for aquaculture to be a diversification strategy for commercial fishermen. I will likely use this source as supporting evidence that such a transition does not currently appear to be taking place other than for a minority of commercial fishermen.

How to create this format

In Microsoft Word

  1. Highlight your citations and annotations.
  2. Open Format > Paragraph. Alternatively, highlight the text, right-click and select Paragraph.
  3. Under Indentation, there is a drop down menu for Special options. This includes the Hanging First Line.

In Google Docs

  1. Highlight your citations and annotations.
  2. In the  menu, click on Format, then go down to Align & indent, then click on Indentation options.
  3. In the Indentation options menu, under Special, select Hanging.

Sample Papers