OLMC Guides: Annotated Bibliography

The purpose of the annotation is to inform the reader of the relevance, accuracy, and quality of the sources cited. An annotated bibliography is usually descriptive, informative or evaluates the texts listed in a bibliography. Your teacher will guide you as to which one. 

Annotations help your teacher to see your thinking, but they also help you too. Since your annotations include a summary of the source, you start to think critically about the source and its value to your research. This helps you better understand the topic.

Annotations are typically four to six sentences long. Begin with broad comments about the focus of the source then move to more details. Your comments should move from the details of the text to your evaluation of the source.

- Create a bibliography as you normally would. If you need help with this, then go to Our Guide to Writing Bibliographies / Reference lists

- Following each citation you write with an annotation. An annotation generally consists of three points:

1. Summary

• Summarise main arguments and ideas

2.  Evaluation 

• How does this article connect to my research
• Evaluate the reliability and credibility of your source

3.  Reflection

• How useful was this source in helping to answer your research question?

• What I still need to find out?

• University of NSW

  Scroll down to the bottom of the page to see a sample of an annotated bibliography. It has more than three points in its annotations but will give you an idea.