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Annotated Bibliographies

Definition

A bibliography is an alphabetical listing of sources at the end of a written work (book, book chapter, or article), to which the author referred during the research and writing process.

In addition to books and articles, bibliographies can include sources such as reports, interviews, Web sites, video or audio recordings.

Bibliographies are also sometimes referred to as 'references', 'works cited' or 'works consulted' (the latter can include those titles that merely contributed to research, but were not specifically cited in text).

The standard bibliography provides the citation information of the sources you have consulted. That includes the author(s) name(s), date of publication, title, and publisher's name and location. For articles, you also need to include the journal title, volume, issue and page numbers.

The reason you would create a bibliography is to assist the reader in finding the sources you used in the writing of a work.

In an annotated bibliography, an annotation is an additional comment in which you describe the nature and value of each cited source. The annotation provides the reader with essential critical information and a foundation for further research.

A bibliography is an alphabetical listing of the sources you have used to inform your writing, either explicitly (you have quoted from or paraphrased the source in your own writing) or implicitly (the source has informed your thought process about your topic).

The sources you cite in your bibliography could be items such as books, articles, reports, interviews, web sites, or video or audio recordings.

Bibliographies, also called "references" or "works cited," appear at the end of articles, book chapters, or books. They are created in order to assist the reader in finding the sources you used in the writing of a work.

Annotated Bibliographies

Learn what an annotated bibliography is and how to write one.

Duration: 4 minutes

Preparing an Annotated Bibliography