Learn how to write an annotated bibliography to achieve the best grades!

Writing an annotated bibliography is one of academic work's most challenging yet essential parts. This helpful EduBirdie guide will tell you all about the important parts, provide structure, and list useful examples. We shall also focus on formatting aspects and learn more about the differences.

Learning how to write an annotated bibliography may seem like a lot of work, yet our guide will make things much easier for you! With all the steps you must take, you can handle this part of your essay or research paper without worrying.

Learn what is an annotated bibliography in academic writing

Before you further discover how to write an annotated bibliography in the best way possible, let us define its main purpose. An annotated bibliography is a piece of academic writing that accompanies almost every research project. In layman’s terms, an annotated bibliography should give readers an account of your research work on a specified topic/subject. This means that you should provide a typical alphabetical list in an annotated bib format with relevant research sources you have used. If you have tried to learn how to write a literature review or tried to work with several sources, you will understand the main purpose of such work.

Here, you should provide more than bibliographic data. It must offer a concise summary based on each source used. It would be best if you also showed an evaluation and analysis of why some resource or a book is valuable, important, and relevant to your work. Quite a lot will depend on what you wish to do. For example, you may have to provide an annotated bibliography template that belongs to a large research project. Likewise, it may be a separate project you may be asked to do as a college student.

The types of annotated bibliography

As you may already know, annotated bibliographies are often of different types. You must double-check your grading rubric instructions before you start with the formatting. While you may already have an example of annotated bibliography, take a quick look at these variations:

• Depending on what you must do in your research paper and/or assignment, the task is to provide a summary and avoid any evaluation. 
• Another type of assignment may involve noticing and commenting on certain patterns that show similarities and dissimilarities between two or more sources.
• An assignment may ask you to treat each given or found source independently.
• If working with a lengthy piece of writing, your bibliography may be separate research.
• Finally, an annotated bibliography layout may even include a preface that discusses your investigation type and justifies your sources.

Do not let it frighten you because each type of writing is not too challenging! If you are stuck with overcoming writer’s block and you need someone to push you through, it is only necessary to ask for help!

Comparing an annotated bibliography with a literature review and an abstract

It is no wonder that many students often feel confused when it comes to working with a literature review and working with an abstract. Here is what we need to know to see the difference when writing an annotated bibliography:

• An annotated bibliography: Each source is based on how exactly it relates to the topic.

• A literature review: This one combines multiple sources to show and evaluate where they agree or disagree. 

• An abstract: Here, you show a brief summary based on a particular resource. Unlike a bibliography annotation, it must provide a summary and evaluate the quality relevant to the chosen source.

In case you do not know how to work with any of these types of writing, you must consider paper writers for hire who will help you to determine what tasks you have to do. At the same time, you may also find an expert who can assist you with properly formatting the sources. Here is what we shall review next to let you see what it means when you have to work on an APA annotated bibliography format as one of the examples. If you already know some writing styles, the changes you must make to the annotated bibliography will not be too much work. 

The differences in writing an annotated bibliography in different styles (APA, MLA, Chicago)

If you have been given an assignment in MLA or the document is in annotated bibliography Chicago style format, the annotated bibliography must be in the same format. Let’s see the peculiarities of the most popular formatting: 

• APA style:

The APA style asks you to provide the purpose of your work, a brief summary of the content included, information about the authors(s), the type of the audience, and the relevance of your writing to the resource. It must have a running head and a page number. The "Annotated Bibliography" title must be centered. The font must be Times New Roman 12 with 1' margins. Here is an APA annotated bibliography sample to help you know what it looks like in practice: 

• MLA style:

You must title your reference page "Annotated Bibliography" with annotations included in full. They should not go beyond a single paragraph. Here is what an MLA annotated bibliography looks like: 

Remember adding the running MLA head on the page with the indents after the first line!

• Chicago style:

The hanging indent must be present, while the text must be double-spaced and aligned to the left. All the rest goes according to the rest of your paper, formatted in CMOS (Chicago Manual of Style). 

Speaking of interviews, if you need to create an excellent Chicago-style interview citation or something related to a specific task, feel free to give us a shout! We are always available for you! 

What an annotated bibliography looks in practice: helpful examples

Nothing compares to having an annotated bibliography example you can look at. Of course, a lot will depend on what tasks you have. If you need to evaluate something, it will have a different tone and information you need to source. Sure enough, an annotated bibliography writer will be an excellent assistant, so feel free to ask if you are stuck somewhere. As for now, see this example: 

Here is what another example of an APA annotated bibliography looks like: 

Since we have already learned the most about what an annotated bib format looks like, let’s move on to the steps you must take to create your personal annotated page. 

Five steps to write an annotated bibliography

Image credit: examples.com

Before you start with any writing, you must take the following obligatory steps: 

Step 1: Choosing relevant sources.

Locate those resources (books, journals, websites, etc) that may be useful to support your thesis and/or the main argument. 

Step 2: Review the list of items.

To learn how to make an annotated bibliography, you must look at all you have found and take specific notes. They must contain useful information and the author's background if necessary. 

Step 3: Sort your sources according to a style format.

Since most sources must be sorted alphabetically, you may also sort them by order of importance. It is not always necessary, yet we have seen such cases. In either case, do every annotated bibliography citation based on the specified writing style. 

Step 4: Start with your annotation.

Write down all your notes and thoughts. As a rule, keep one source to one paragraph. It is a required format for an annotated bibliography. If you go beyond one paragraph, use an additional indent. 

Step 5: Provide a thesis when and if necessary.

Some cases may require adding a thesis at the end or providing an additional analysis. It should be like precis writing, when you have to provide content in limited words based on an idea or a paragraph. 

How to make your annotated bibliography stand out?

Here are some tips that will help you to achieve success. Regardless of what annotated bibliography structure, you have to follow this checklist: 

• Identify the author’s thesis to find out the central claim or purpose. 
• See if there are any specific repetitions or omissions. 
• Take notes of what makes the author exceptional. 
• Notice how the text has been organized. 
• Notice what the theory is used for (an interpretation, analysis, overview, etc.)
• Identify the methods to structure an annotated bibliography introduction example. It means that setting things clear right from the start is important! 
• Look for those final paragraphs that provide a summary.

At the same time, remember to paraphrase what you see in the book. If you are unsure what it means, see the plagiarism vs paraphrasing guide to learn all the specifics. 

Some final tips to remember!

Remember that taking notes is essential as it will help you save time. As you learn how to structure an annotated bibliography, you will already know what to write and how to tell your audience about the author. It will always pay off if you take time to prepare things first. If things still sound rough, let us know how we can assist 24/7. Our experts will guide you through!