Annotated Bibliography Format & Examples

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Published October 18, 2015. Updated December 27, 2021.

A Complete Guide to the MLA & APA Annotated Bibliography

If you've just received an assignment that requires an MLA or APA annotated bibliography, you may be wondering where to start. This guide will assist reply all of your questions and includes pace-past-step instructions on how to exercise an annotated bibliography in MLA way, also every bit an APA annotated bibliography. Yous volition besides discover sample annotated bibliographies, existent-life examples, and opportunities to practice what y'all accept learned.

The MLA (Modern Language Association) and APA (American Psychological Association) are not associated with this guide. All of the data provided hither, withal, offers management for students and researchers who utilise these commendation styles in their work.

The structures and annotated bibliography templates on this folio were created past the in-house librarians at EasyBib.com.

If you lot're simply looking for an example of an annotated bibliography (both in MLA format and APA format), scroll down toward the lesser of the page. We've included links to visuals for those of you who demand assist with the structure and styling of an annotated bibliography. If y'all're looking for a multifariousness of annotated bibliography topics, and you're truly searching for the respond to, "What is an annotated bibliography?" and then continue reading!

Here'southward a run-through of everything this page includes:

  • Tabular array of contents
  • What is an annotated bibliography?
  • Annotations vs. Abstruse
  • Why include annotations?
  • Step 1: Analyze your sources
  • Step 2: Write the descriptions
  • Step 3a: Formatting an MLA style annotated bibliography
  • Pace 3b: Formatting an APA manner annotated bibliography
  • Annotated Bibliography Templates
  • Using the EasyBib Annotation Tool

Tabular array of contents

  • What is an annotated bibliography?
  • Why include annotations?
  • Step i: Clarify your sources
  • Step 2: Write the descriptions
  • Step 3a: Formatting an MLA style annotated bibliography
  • Step 3b: Formatting an APA style annotated bibliography
  • Annotated Bibliography Templates
  • Using the EasyBib Annotation Tool

What is an annotated bibliography?

A bibliography is a complete list of the sources that were used to complete a enquiry paper or projection.

Depending on the style guide you follow, you may besides see this called a Works Cited (also called an MLA bibliography) or Reference List (APA format). Each listed source, or citation, shares information near the writer, title, publishing year, and other details that serve to credit the original authors whose work informed your research. These details too help other students and researchers find and read the source materials.

When your research is related to a scholastic assignment, you should e'er verify your instructor's requirements for the types and number of sources to include, too equally the way you lot should adhere to when formatting your paper and bibliography.

An MLA annotated bibliography and an APA format annotated bibliography are bibliographies that include a concise explanation, or note, of each listed source. Depending on the assignment, this annotation may exist solely descriptive, or analytical.

Annotations vs. Abstruse

An abstruse and annotation should non be confused; they differ in both their substance as well as their placement in a paper.

Annotations:

  • Normally found in bibliographies at the end of a paper
  • Are subjective
  • Purpose is to summarize and evaluate. It should briefly communicate the work's chief point, but also discuss the background of the author or report, and the strengths/weaknesses of the piece of work.

Abstracts:

  • Usually plant in periodical databases or the beginning of a paper
  • Are objective
  • Purpose is to summarize. Information technology should provide a brusque overview of the commodity and communicate the main points and themes.

If you lot would similar to learn more than, this link farther explores the difference between an abstract and an annotation.

This resources provides boosted data on how to write a bibliography with annotations in other formats. You can besides take reward of the plagiarism checker and bibliography tools that come up with EasyBib Plus to help you create your reference lists.

Why include annotations?

Before you learn how to brand an annotated bibliography, yous may be wondering why you lot need to.

Sometimes instructors want you to create and include annotations in your bibliography, either as part of an assignment or as an consignment unto itself. Understanding the purpose of this arroyo to your reference list can help to ensure that y'all gain all of the benefits that the annotated bibliography process provides.

As a pupil, this method volition help y'all develop or hone your enquiry skills, providing you lot with practice not simply in locating sources but also in analyzing and evaluating them for relevance and quality.

Your teacher will gain insight into your inquiry abilities, as well, allowing them to assess your work more thoroughly. If y'all plan to publish your research, this comprehensive approach to detailing your sources will provide readers and other researchers with a substantial directory of resources to evaluate for their own work.

Whether y'all're publishing or submitting your annotated bibliography, make sure your spelling and wording is right! If y'all demand to brush up on any parts of spoken language topics, cheque out our interjection, determiner, and adverb pages!

Step 1: Clarify your sources

Each annotation should be a summarization or analysis of your source. If you accept been tasked with writing annotations every bit part of a enquiry paper or project, begin to create both the citation and notes on the source while you identify and analyze your sources.

Not only volition this arroyo help you lot to hone your inquiry skills and identify sources that are relevant and useful for your topic, merely you will as well salve time. When done in this manner, both your citations and annotations will be nearly complete before you begin to write the trunk of your paper.

Analyzing your potential sources requires a two-pronged approach that start evaluates the author, publication, and appointment, and then examines the content.

When conducting your initial assessment of the source, consider some of the following questions to guide your appraisement:

  • What qualifies the author to write on this subject?
  • Is the author affiliated with a reputable institution in this field?
  • Is the author credentialed or otherwise considered an expert in this field?
  • Is this source current?
  • Is this the most recent edition?
  • Is the publisher reputable?
  • Is the journal reputable?

Once your chief evaluation is complete, you will move on the assessing the content itself. Consider some of these elements equally y'all review each source:

  • Who is the intended audience?
  • Is the author presenting her opinion or interpretation every bit the truth, or stating facts?
  • What supporting evidence does the author provide?
  • Did the author perform the research, or curate and present the enquiry of others?
  • If the author used the enquiry of others, are the sources the author cites apparent?
  • Are there errors or omissions of fact?
  • Is the author writing objectively and without bias?

Besides, consider the value each source provides to y'all:

  • Is the data helpful for your particular consignment?
  • Does it assist respond your research question(south)?
  • Is this source unlike from your other sources, or does information technology echo information you already take?
  • Is the source providing you lot with a different perspective on your topic, or irresolute your beliefs or thinking most your subject?

To make it easier for yous to create your reference page, write your notes in the format you will exist using when you construct this part of the assignment (for case, as short phrases or consummate sentences). Once you have identified all of the sources y'all wish to include, yous will just need to insert what you have already written on the page and write your commendation, which is explained in the side by side section.

Click here for additional information and a supplementary annotated bibliography sample. For an MLA bibliography case (with annotations),  cheque out our visual example of an MLA annotated bibliography.

Step 2: Write the descriptions

An annotated bibliography entry may be written either as short phrases or complete sentences. Your teacher will suggest you of which approach you lot are required to take.

Annotations should include either:

  • The principal points from the source, as well as the topics covered, the approach used, and any findings.
  • Or your critical evaluation.

Tips:

  • A standard annotation is approximately one paragraph.
  • Accept care not to include any unnecessary details, as the goal is to summarize each source as succinctly as possible and, in some cases, evaluate them.
  • Your discipline or instructor will determine what format your annotated bibliography will use. In this guide, y'all'll find examples of an MLA and an APA annotated bibliography.

Example:

Here is an annotated bibliography example MLA annotation for the book The Elements of Eloquence: Secrets of the Perfect Turn of Phrase by United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland author and blogger Mark Forsyth:

The writer, Mark Forsyth, examines the rhetorical devices used in the English language language, analyzing the patterns and formats that create memorable quotes. He traces the history of rhetoric to the Ancient Greeks, and provides an abridged timeline, following their utilise and evolution through to modern 24-hour interval. The author also explores the broader subject of persuasion and maps out the part that the figures of rhetoric play in it. In all, he examines over 30 devices, dissecting notable passages and phrases from pop music, the plays of William Shakespeare, the Bible, and more to explore the figures of rhetoric at work within each of them. Thorough definitions accompany this examination of construction to demonstrate how these formulas have been used to generate famously memorable expressions too as how to reproduce their furnishings.

Notice how the annotated bibliography MLA entry above is descriptive enough so the reader has an thought of what the source is about with just a unmarried paragraph. For more information on annotations, cheque out this informative site. If you're looking to strengthen your writing in full general, reading these grammar guides could be a good start.

For guidance on creating entries in MLA format, APA format, and more styles, check out the EasyBib library of resource or effort the EasyBib note tool—we talk about information technology below!

Step 3a: MLA annotated bibliography format

The MLA Mode Center and the current edition of the MLA Handbook provide the following guidance for formatting an MLA annotated bibliography:

  • Championship your reference page as "Annotated Bibliography" or "Annotated Listing of Works Cited."
  • Place each notation after its reference.
  • Annotations should typically not exceed a single paragraph.
  • Annotations should exist indented one inch from the start of your commendation.
  • Double-space all text on the folio.
  • one-inch margins around the page.

Sources in an annotated bibliography can be organized alphabetically past the beginning word in each reference (as with a normal Works Cited page), past publication date, or past subject field.

For a visual example of an annotated bibliography, as well as specific notation examples, visit the MLA annotated bibliography guide.

MLA annotated bibliography

If yous are required to share your references in a manner other than in MLA bibliography format, the EasyBib style guides tin help you with many common styles. While you're at it, cheque out their conjunction, preposition, and pronoun pages to assistance proceed your paper in mint status!

Pace 3b: APA annotated bibliography format

The American Psychological Association states that your instructor should set the guidelines for your annotated bibliography, only asks that the bibliography be formatted according to their standard reference page rules (see Section nine.51 of the Publication Manual). If your teacher has requested an APA formatted annotated bibliography, first ask them for guidelines. Otherwise, here are some quick rules for you to follow:

  • 1-inch margins around the page.
  • Double space all text on the page.
  • Title your page "Annotated Bibliography". Bold and center the title.
  • Organize references alphabetically by the first word of each reference.
  • Merely the first line of a reference is affluent with the left margin. Any other lines after the first line should be indented ½ inch from the left.
  • Add together annotations on the next line afterwards their paired reference.
  • Fully indent annotations by a ½ inch from the left.
  • Keep annotations brusque. No more than one paragraph.

For examples of a  properly formatted APA note, visit this guide on APA annotated bibliographies.

In comparison to the sample annotated bibliography MLA, the APA sample formats its page elements and references differently.

Annotated Bibliography Templates

Students and researchers who blazon their enquiry notes can save time by using an annotated bibliography template in MLA format while reviewing and analyzing sources. By adding the relevant information into a pre-formatted template, you'll create a resource that helps you when you begin writing your paper in addition to saving time by completing your references and summaries alongside your research.

Students who prefer to take notes by mitt can utilize a modified version of this arroyo, with an additional step required to transfer your handwritten and formatted references from your notebook to populate your reference page.

Bibliography Template for MLA

To create an annotated bibliography MLA template, copy the following details into the program in which you will take notes or manus write information technology on the top margin of a page in your notebook. For each source, use this template to guide y'all as y'all identify the necessary details and insert them into your notes:

  • Writer (Terminal name, Start proper name).
  • Championship of source.
  • Title of the container,
  • Other contributors (names and roles),
  • Version,
  • Number,
  • Publisher,
  • Publication Date,
  • Location of the source (such as URL or page range).
  • Summary or Analysis.

The MLA 9 model for MLA works cited entries offers a single format for all source blazon, and a slap-up bargain of flexibility to include the information most relevant to your topic and omit that which isn't.

Hopefully our visual annotated bibliography example in MLA above has helped. If you still have lingering questions, visit the MLA Fashion Heart online (linked hither). Also, here's a guide if you're looking for more on the related topic of MLA in-text & parenthetical citations.

Bibliography Template for APA

Students and researchers who are however asking themselves how to piece together an annotated bibliography, or even so questioning what is an annotated bibliography, could probably benefit from a template, similar to the i above. This one, however, is for those of you who are tasked with creating an annotated bibliography in the fashion created by the American Psychological Association.

The catchy affair almost this specific style though, is that every reference is styled differently. Books, websites, journal articles, paper articles, and many others each have their own reference structure.

For almost sources though, you should look for the following, basic information:

  • Type of source
  • Author (last name, first name)
  • Title of source/article/web page, etc.
  • Championship of where source was found (e.yard., database name, website proper name, etc.)
  • Other contributors (names and roles)
  • Version
  • Number
  • Publisher
  • Publication Engagement,
  • Location of the source (such as URL, DOI, or page range)
  • Summary or Analysis

We understand it tin get tricky, and information technology's very different from the Modern Language Association's structure for references. Take a moment to either utilize the other handy guides on EasyBib.com or use our automated generator to form your references in just a few clicks. Our tools help take the hurting away from having to rack your brain to grade references properly. Capitals, lowercase letters, italics, quotation marks, punctuation in the appropriate places, information technology tin all exist quite overwhelming. Do yourself a favor, and utilise the EasyBib automatic commendation generator.

Even though at that place are a lot of dissimilar variations, hither'due south a commonly used structure for sources:

Author'south Last Name, First initial, Centre initial. (Year the source was published). Title of the source. Retrieved from (insert the website address hither)

Underneath the reference, include your summary or assay paragraph.

Hopefully, this page helped answer all of your "What is an annotated bibliography?" questions. If you're seeking out an annotated bibliography generator, follow the steps above the annotated bibliography examples.

Looking for additional help with other related topics? Don't forget about the diverse benign guides on EasyBib.com! Our APA in-text citation guide and our APA parenthetical citation guide are two of our nearly popular pages. Learn the ins and outs of referencing your work in the torso of your paper with our thorough, complete, and reader-friendly guides.

If you are creating a bibliography in MLA format, the EasyBib MLA bibliography generator can help save you lot fourth dimension formatting your citations and annotations correctly. You lot can create entries for websites, books, videos, databases, lexicon manufactures, and many other types of sources.

In addition to forming the citations, y'all can also enter your annotation text to produce the complete entry for each source. The procedure for this is simple. You can follow forth below to exercise creating one:

  1. Offset, select your source type from among the 50+ bachelor options. For this example, we will use the acting career of Keanu Reeves as our research topic and use the pic Point Interruption from 1991 every bit our first source. To cite this picture, yous would select the option for "Picture show/Online Video." Every bit y'all follow along, selection the selection that is suitable for your source if you are using a different example.
  2. Enter the title of your source or, if you are citing a website, you may enter the URL. (At present would exist a great time to peek at how to cite websites in MLA). After you enter the championship or URL for your reference, the EasyBib commendation tool volition browse for titles that match it and provide you with a list of results. Select "Cite this" next to the list that matches your source.
  3. Yous will come across a citation form. This gives you the choice to add boosted relevant or necessary information. For our sample topic, we volition specifically cite Keanu Reeves every bit the performer and Kathryn Bigelow every bit the director.
  4. After entering whatever additional details, you have the option to expand your entry and include an annotation. To do so, select "Add together annotation" at the bottom of the page, and a text box will open up upwards.

And then, type your summary or assay into the text box. If you took notes during the research stage using the format of your paper, this might exist as simple as copying and pasting your already written summary or critique. In one case you have entered all of the necessary information, select "Create commendation" to generate the complete entry. Y'all can then re-create and paste this into your MLA bibliography.

Here'due south what it'll look like:

Point Break. Directed by Kathryn Bigelow, operation past Keanu Reeves, 20th Century Fox, 1991.

Reeves' role as rookie FBI Agent Johnny Utah in Point Break marks the turning point in his Hollywood film career. While he'd risen to fame due to the success of the Beak and Ted franchise, his status today as an action star began when Point Break provided him with the material to constitute himself equally capable of portraying more than the lovable but unserious characters of his previous starring roles. In a parallel arc, director Kathryn Bigelow's career also sees a shift beginning with Point Pause, establishing her inside the traditional action genre as a serious director capable of creating high-action and visually memorable films. While Betoken Suspension leaves enough to be desired in terms of dialogue, it afforded Bigelow and Reeves the opportunities to showcase themselves and their talent in new ways that even so echo in their work today.

Works Cited

Harner, James L.On Compiling an Annotated Bibliography. 2d ed., Modern Language Association of America, 2000.

MLA Handbook. 9th ed., Modernistic Language Association of America, 2021.

Publication Transmission of the American Psychological Clan. 7th ed., American Psychological Clan, 2020.

"What Guidance Should I Give My Students for Preparing an Annotated Bibliography?" The MLA Style Eye, The Modern Language Association, 4 Nov. 2016, style.mla.org/annotated-bibliographies/.

Visit our EasyBib Twitter feed to find more citing tips, fun grammar facts, and the latest production updates.

Published October 18, 2015. Updated July 25, 2021.

Written and edited by Michele Kirschenbaum and Elise Barbeau. Michele Kirschenbaum is a schoolhouse library media specialist and is the in-house librarian at EasyBib.com. Elise Barbeau is the Commendation Specialist at Chegg. She has worked in digital marketing, libraries, and publishing.

Commendation Guides

What is an annotated bibliography?

An annotated bibliography is a list containing complete data of sources, such equally journals, books, and reports, cited in the text. In addition, it provides a cursory description of each source in about 100–150 words. The annotation can explain the topics covered in the source or evaluate the source. The main objective of giving the notation is to provide the reader the importance, accuracy, and value of the source.

An example of an annotated bibliography in APA style is given below.

Lim, L. (2014). Ideology, rationality and reproduction in education: A disquisitional discourse analysis. Soapbox: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Didactics, 35(ane), 61–76. https://doi:x.1080/01596306.2012.739467

Lim (2014) focuses on problems of power and ideology ascendant in curricular discourses of rationality to report a soapbox analysis of the goals of 1 of the most important curricula in the educational activity of thinking. He proves that political and class commitments are reproduced in the forms of thinking that are valued in societies. Through his research, Lim asserts that such curricula engage in making our agreement of what thinking and rationality are. It must facilitate the social reproduction of a specific proportion of the centre class.

How do I write an annotated bibliography?

If y'all want to evaluate or provide a description of a source you are citing, you can create an annotated bibliography. Write your annotation in 100–150 words and add it beneath the source for which you are providing your annotation. Remember, your annotation should provide the reader the importance, accurateness, and value of the source. Below are the guidelines and rules to exist followed while writing an annotated bibliography for APA way:

Order your reference entries in alphabetical social club, similar to how you would social club entries in the reference listing.

If you lot want to add an annotation to an entry, add information technology as a fresh paragraph below the reference entry. The annotation is indented 0.v inches from the left margin. However, the first line of the annotation is not indented.

To format the annotated bibliography, follow the recommendations given below:

Fix the left, right, summit, and bottom margins to 1 inch.

Requite double-line spacing.

Title the page "Annotated Bibliography." Set up it in bold.

The title should be aligned to the middle of the page.

Every bit y'all format reference entries, left-marshal all references in the annotated bibliography section. If whatsoever entry runs over more than a line, indent the subsequent lines 0.v inch from the left margin.

Arrange all reference entries alphabetically according to the surname of the authors.

Provide your annotations below the reference entry for which you want to requite your note. Indent annotations 0.5 inches from the left margin.