Graduate Research Process: 5b. Annotated Bibliographies and Citations Styles

Citation Styles

Created by UIW Instruction Librarian, Leslie Todd

Writing an Annotated Bibliography

Written by Deborah Knott, New College Writing Center, University of Toronto

Posted with permission of the author, Owen Williams, University of Minnesota, Crookston Library:

An annotated bibliography is an organized list of sources (references cited), such as books, journals, newspapers, magazines, web pages, etc., each of which is followed by an annotation or description of each item.  

Annotations may consist of all or part of the following items, depending on the assignment:

•  describe the content (focus) of the item
•  describe the usefulness of the item
• evaluate the methods (research) used in the item
• evaluate reliability of the item
• discuss the author’s background
• discuss any conclusions the author(s) may have made

What is the purpose of an annotated bibliography?

Depending on the assignment the annotated bibliography may serve a number of purposes. Including but not limited to:

•  a review of the literature on a particular subject
•  provide examples of the types of sources available
• explore the subject for further research

 What does the annotated bibliography look like?

Write and arrange the citations just as you would any other bibliography, usually listing citations alphabetically by the first word, which is typically the author’s last name.  The annotation may then immediately follow the bibliographic information or may skip one or two lines depending on the style manual that is used. Remember to be brief and include only directly significant information and write in an efficient manner.

For examples, visit Purdue University's Online Writing Lab (OWL)