APA 6th Edition Guidelines: Annotated Bibliography

An annotated bibliography is the full citation of a source followed by notes and commentary about a source. The word “annotate” means “critical or explanatory notes” and the word “bibliography” means “a list of sources”. Annotations are not the same as abstracts. Abstracts are purely descriptive summaries often found at the beginning of scholarly/ academic journal articles. Annotations are meant to be critical in addition to being descriptive.

Format:

The format for an annotated bibliography is similar to that of a research paper. Use one-inch margins on all sides, double-space your entries, and arrange each entry in alphabetical order. Hanging Indents are required for citations in the bibliography, as shown below. The first line of the citation starts at the left margin and subsequent lines of the citation will be indented.

Example: Journal Article with DOI

Calkins, S., & Kelley, M. (2007, Fall). Evaluating internet and scholarly sources across the disciplines: Two case studies. College Teaching, 55(4), 151-156. doi:10.1111/j.1747- 7379.2007.00759.x

This article discusses the problem of unintentional online plagiarism and many students’ inability to evaluate, critique, synthesize, and credit online sources properly. Two case studies from different disciplines, which were designed to foster critical evaluation of the Internet and scholarly sources, are discussed in detail. The CARS (Credibility, Accuracy, Reasonableness, Support) checklist for evaluating research sources is also introduced and applied in these case studies. I found this article useful because much of the content of these case studies can be easily adapted to fit assignments in different academic disciplines. One information literacy assignment in one quarter at college is not enough. If students are expected to use the Internet in a responsible way, educators must provide guidelines and relevant experience that allows students to apply those guidelines in practical ways.

Updated 02/2010

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY 2

For annotated bibliographies, use standard APA format for the citations, then add a brief entry, including:

• 2 to 4 sentences to summarize the main idea(s) of the source. o What are the main arguments?
o What is the point of this book/article?
o What topics are covered?

• 1 or 2 sentences to assess and evaluate the source.
o How does it compare with other sources in your bibliography? o Is this information reliable?
o Is the source objective or biased?

• 1 or 2 sentences to reflect on the source.
o Was this source helpful to you?
o How can you use this source for your research project? o Has it changed how you think about your topic?

Example: Journal Article without DOI (when DOI is not available)

Calkins, S., & Kelley, M. (2007, Fall). Evaluating internet and scholarly sources across the disciplines: Two case studies. College Teaching, 55(4), 151-156. Retrieved from http://www.heldref.org/pubs/ct/about.html

This article discusses the problem of unintentional online plagiarism and many students’ inability to evaluate, critique, synthesize, and credit online sources properly. Two case studies from different disciplines, which were designed to foster critical evaluation of the Internet and scholarly sources, are discussed in detail. I found this article useful because much of the content of these case studies can be easily adapted to fit assignments in different academic disciplines. One information literacy assignment in one quarter at college is not enough. If students are expected to use the Internet in a responsible way, educators must provide guidelines and relevant experience that allows students to apply those guidelines in practical ways.

Updated 02/2010