How to Write an Annotated Bibliography: Top 27 Effective Tips and Guidelines

 

What is an annotated bibliography?

It is a list of citations to books, articles, and documents. Each citation is followed by a descriptive and evaluative paragraph.

To learn how to write Bibliography, you need to understand the various types and formats of writing a bibliography. Moreover, you need to know why you must include a bibliography in your assignment.

Perhaps you think writing a bibliography is a difficult task.

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1.Why do You Need an Annotated Bibliography?

Some of the reasons you will be required to write a bibliography include:

1. To demonstrate, you have found useful sources that relate to your research work.
2. To list and describe your sources that provide background information about your topic.
3. To explore the subject for further research.
4. Let your reader have an idea of the content of the publication.

Include the following features in your annotation;

1. His/her qualification and achievements.
2. Purpose/Objective. Why did the author write it?
3. How deep is the coverage?
4. How did the author want to influence the target reader?
5. What approach did the author use?
6. Did the author refer to other sources?
7. How did the author conclude?
8. How it relates to other work on a topic.
9. Your viewpoint towards them.

2.How to write an Annotated Bibliography

First, you need to understand the general tips for writing a BibliographyThe general tips are:

1. Your annotation style must be based on your professor’s instructions and requirements.
2. Complete your Bibliography with complete sentences or as phrases.
3. Write an annotation for each source.
4. Evaluate the sources found and write down impressions and necessary ideas.
5. Include full citation data based on a specific citation format.
6. Mention the author’s name.
7. Write down the book title and the year of publishing.
8. Specify the subject of the book
9. Describe why the source has to do with your paper.
10. Keep track of your research material.

Before you write your Bibliography, do the following:

1. Evaluate the scope of the resources to be used for research and included them as entries.
2. Research and retrieve all the necessary material.
3. Evaluate each source found. Then jot down important ideas impressions.
4. Provide full citation data according to a specific citation format.

Once you complete the above, writing down the sources becomes easy and straightforward. However, you still have to write source summaries, which are a bit challenging. Tips on how to write a summary are:

1. Write down 1 or 2 sentences that describe the source addressed by the Bibliography.
2.  Write down a sentence that explains the methodology used by the author, the type of sources used, and details regarding the source’s organization.
3. Write a sentence that explains the relevance of the source to the topic.

There are various writing bibliography writing styles. They include:

3.APA Style Format

When formatting an annotated bibliography in APA style, include the following:

1. Use a hanging indent for the citation. This means the first line begins even with the left margin. All the lines that follow are to be indented 4 spaces from the left margin.
2. Indent the annotation’s summary as a block of text, two spaces further from the left margin than the citation’s subsequent lines.

Here is an example of APA style annotated Bibliography:

Johnson, J. (2002).New Age Culture. New York, NY: Marshall Cavendish.

4.MLA Style Format

To format your annotated bibliography in MLA style:

1. Use a hanging indent for the citation. This means the first line must begin even the left margin. Also, Indent the lines that follow four spaces from the left margin.
2. The summary of the annotation is flush with the left margin and is not indented.
3. The entries of the Bibliography are double-spaced.

Here is an example of MLA style annotated Bibliography:

Linsey, M. Parrots. New York, NY: Routledge, 2012. Print.                                                             

5.Chicago Style Format

When using this type of style,

1. Double-space all text.
2. Indent every summary paragraph with the help of the tab key
3. On the top right of the page, place page numbers beginning with the first page after page.
4. Input all entries for references with a hanging indent.
5. Use a font that can easily be read.

An example of Chicago annotated bibliography:

Carson, Craig G., 2007. The History of the USA. Washington, D. C.: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.

With this information on writing an annotated bibliography, you can now write a well-written and informative bibliography to accompany your assignment. Make sure to contact our experts if you find it challenging to write a bibliography. We are ready and happy to assist you with your academic work.

Happy writing!