Annotated bibliographies
An annotated bibliography gives you a chance to evaluate the quality and reliability of an academic source. It involves summarising the source and reflecting on its suitability for your research task.
You may be asked to produce an annotated bibliography as a standalone task or as preparation for a bigger piece of writing, like an essay. Why? Because it’s a great way to show that you are using quality sources, you understand the concepts and how they fit into your field. This page gives you the format and structure of an annotated bibliography so you can approach it with confidence.
What is an annotated bibliography?
An annotated bibliography is a short summary of an article, book or book chapter that you have read. They are often done for peer-reviewed journal articles. There are two kinds of annotated bibliographies:
- Descriptive annotation: summarises the main points of an article in no more than a single paragraph.
- Analytical annotation: summarises the main points of an article in no more than a single paragraph and includes a line or two of critique about the article.
A critique is a balanced evaluative appraisal about the positive and negative points about the article, i.e., it is not necessarily negative.
A formal part of an annotated bibliography is a full citation of the article you have read. This precedes any descriptive or analytical annotation. An annotated bibliography entry is therefore a combination of the two elements, i.e., the bibliographic information of a specific source and a paragraph summarising and, in the case of an analytical annotation, evaluating the content of the source.
Here’s an example of a descriptive annotation:
Waite, L. J., Goldschneider, F. K., & Witsberger, C. (1986). Non-family living and the erosion of traditional family orientations among young adults. American Sociological Review, 51(4), 541-554.
The authors, researchers at the Rand Corporation and Brown University, use data from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Young Women and Young Men to test their hypothesis that non-family living by young adults alters their attitudes, values, plans, and expectations, moving them away from their belief in traditional sex roles. They find their hypothesis strongly supported in young females, while the effects were fewer in studies of young males. Increasing the time away from parents before marrying increased individualism, self-sufficiency, and changes in attitudes about families. In contrast, an earlier study by Williams cited below shows no significant gender differences in sex role attitudes as a result of non-family living.
That’s it. Short and sweet.
A series of annotated bibliography entries
You may be asked to write multiple entries in an annotated bibliography task. For example, you may be asked to produce 6-10 annotated bibliography entries on hand sanitation procedures in nursing. This task helps you get a sense of the research literature within a narrow field of study.
Annotated bibliography entries are written to:
- review the literature of a particular subject
- demonstrate how effectively and widely you have read
- highlight sources that may be of interest to other readers and researchers
- explore and organise sources for further research (e.g., in preparation for an essay or a literature review).
When set as an assignment, an annotated bibliography task helps you to become more familiar with material published on a particular topic. This enables you to become aware of a specific field of research. This is useful for many reasons, not least of which is preparation for higher degree studies later. When writing annotated bibliographies you are beginning to review literature.
A five-part structure
Annotated bibliography tasks that require a structured approach are generally asking you to reflect these five parts in your annotation:
- A full citation of the source (using the referencing style relevant to your course, e.g., APA, Chicago)
- A general statement about the author’s purpose for writing the source
- A short summary of the content
- An evaluation of the content
- Reflection on the usefulness of the source to your study
Normally only one or two sentences are adequate for each section.
| The parts of an annotated bibliography | Sentence starters |
|
1. The citation information is in the same format as it would be in a reference list or bibliography. Leave a line below the citation also. |
Griffiths, T. (1996). Hunters and collectors: The antiquarian imagination in Australia. Melbourne, Australia: Cambridge University Press. |
|
2. State the author’s viewpoint. Summarise briefly the author’s purpose for writing. |
|
|
3. Summarise the theory, research findings or argument
|
|
|
4. The evaluation is your assessment of the usefulness and/or limitations of the text for your research or field.
|
|
|
5. Reflect on the work and show how it will fit into your personal research on your topic. Consider:
|
|
(adapted from UNE, 2013)