What is an annotated bibliography?
An annotated bibliography is an account of research that has been done on a topic. As with any bibliography, it is an alphabetical list of research sources such as books, articles, websites and documents. In addition to bibliographic information, it gives a concise summary of each source, including some assessment of its value or relevance. An annotated bibliography may be one stage in a larger research project.
Why do we use annotated bibliographies?
An annotated bibliography may have a variety of purposes:
- reviewing the literature on your subject
- demonstrating the quality and depth of your reading
- showing the scope of sources available, e.g. journals, books, websites
- informing the reader of the relevance, accuracy and quality of sources that may be of interest
- exploring and organising sources for further research.
How do we write an annotated bibliography?
There are two main sections to each annotated bibliography entry:
1. The bibliographic information (the reference).
2. The explanatory paragraphs (the annotation), which provide one or more of the following elements depending on your assessment requirements:
- a summary of the main arguments or ideas presented by the author
- a critique orevaluation of the source’s usefulness, reliability, objectivity or bias, and a comparison with other sources
- a reflection on how the source fits into your research.
Guidelines for word length
Summary/description
- Approximately a quarter of the annotation
Critique/evaluation
- Approximately half of the annotation
Reflection and closing remarks
- Approximately a quarter of the annotation
When writing the annotation, you might like to consider some of the following questions or sentence starters to focus your thoughts
Questions to consider |
Sentence starters |
| Summary component | |
| What are the main ideas expressed by the author? | This chapter focuses on three main issues. These are … |
| Does the author present evidence to validate his arguments? | The author supports this claim with statistics from … |
| What is the author’s purpose? | The author’s purpose is to challenge common perceptions of … |
| Critique or evaluation component | |
| How do the ideas presented in the text match or differ from other authors’ ideas? | The author challenges the common notion of … The theories presented by this author are supported by the majority of the research in this field … |
| Is the text the author’s personal opinion, or is academic support provided? | The ideas outlined in this article appear to be largely the author’s personal opinion as there is a lack of supporting evidence presented … |
| Is it generalised or specific? | The article provides a basic overview of … This book provides specific, detailed information on ... |
| Is the piece descriptive or analytical? | Although an interesting article, it is largely descriptive and lacks comprehensive analysis of this complicated subject … |
| Who is the intended audience? Consider the language or tone used. |
Although written for a knowledgeable audience, the writing style is informal and the language easy to understand, with no unnecessary jargon … |
| Are there any references worth following? | The author provides a useful list of suggested further reading at the end of each chapter … |
| Reflection component | |
| Did the text help you understand the topic? | This chapter provides useful background information and is helpful as a basic introduction to this complex topic ... |
| Did it change your thinking on the topic? | This article questions the popular notion of … and challenges the reader to consider alternative viewpoints ... |
| How useful was the information? How will you use it in your own work? |
This website is very useful as it will provide a balanced perspective for students wishing to understand this topic ... |
Final considerations
Crosscheck your annotation against the assessment criteria to make sure you have addressed all the requirements.
- Seek peer feedback on the clarity of your writing style.
- Proofread and edit your work.
For further information and examples of annotated bibliographies go to:
