The formatting of your annotated bibliography depends on which citation style you are directed to use. If you're doing this for a class, you should get specific guidelines from your instructor. Your annotated bibliography may include some of these, all of these, or even others (like an introductory statement of scope). Was this source helpful to you? How does it help you shape your argument? How can you use this source in your research project? Has it changed how you think about your topic? Reflection: Once you've summarized and assessed a source, you need to ask how it fits into your research.Is it a useful source? How does it compare with other sources in your bibliography? Is the information reliable? Is this source biased or objective? What is the goal of this source? Assessment: After summarizing a source, it may be helpful to evaluate it.What are the main arguments? What is the point of this book or article? What topics are covered? If someone asked what this article/book is about, what would you say? The length of your annotations will determine how detailed your summary is. Summary: Some annotations merely summarize the source.Citation: A list of the elements that reference a work (book, article, etc.), that may include the title of the work, the author/editor, publisher, date published, volume, issue, and, if from the internet or a database, the url or doi.Your annotated bibliography can include four elements: the citation, a summary, an assessment, and a personal reflection.

Parts of an Annotated Bibliography (taken from Purdue OWL):

Writing an effective annotation requires you to clearly describe and evaluate the overarching argument of the source.Īn annotated bibliography is a valuable tool that prepares you to write a research paper by forcing you to closely read a book or article. It is also a means to help others locate a body of scholarship around a certain topic. An annotated bibliography includes a list of sources that you have found to use in your research paper (books, websites, journal articles, etc.) along with a brief summary and analysis of those sources.

Example of annotation of an article