Annotated Bibliographies: A short guide

An annotated bibliography is a list of academic sources put together by a researcher or student. This is typically done to gather and assess sources for addressing a topic or question. Each of the sources in the list has annotations which summarise and evaluate the content and main arguments of the source.

How does an annotated bibliography differ from other forms? Which one are you being asked to produce?

An annotated bibliography

An annotated bibliography is a list of academic sources put together by a researcher or student. Each of the sources in the list has annotations which summarise and evaluate the content and main arguments of the source. The annotations are usually one paragraph.

A bibliography or reference list

The terms reference list and bibliography are often used interchangeably, giving the impression that they are the same thing. In reality, they have different functions.

There are two main differences – the length and the purpose:

• A reference list tends to be shorter: it is a detailed list of items that you have found, read and cited or quoted in your work.
• A bibliography is much longer: it is a systematic list that includes all the works that you have found or read that are cited in your text as well as those that you found but did not cite in your text. The citations that appear for inclusion in a Bibliography are for suggested or further reading.

Both are located at the end of a piece of writing, such as an essay or report.

An abstract

An abstract is a concise description of an article written by the author of the article. You will see these at the start of a journal article, for example.

A literature review

In a literature review the sources are evaluated and discussed in relation to each other by themes instead of being listed alphabetically. A literature review is structured like an essay, into paragraphs with a reference list at the end.

The look of your annotated bibliography will depend on the requirements outlined by your assignment. A typical annotated bibliography is broken down into the citations for each source you have chosen to include. You should be told how many sources to include. Each citation has an accompanying annotation which is usually a paragraph (of between 100-300 words) that addresses the following points:

• The aim of the source.
• A summary of the findings and key arguments.
• The source’s usefulness to your topic or questions and its limitations.
• A concluding evaluation of how the source fits into your wider research on the topic.

The citations (with their accompanying annotations) are usually presented in alphabetical order with the annotations indented.

A sample annotated citation is included later in this guide.