Copyright © 2020 PhdAssistance. All rights reserved 1

Writing an Annotated Bibliography

Dr. Nancy Agens, Head,

Technical Operations, Phdassistance

info@phdassistance.com

In Brief

Annotated Bibliography provides an

organized list of citations to articles, books,

websites, and documents along with a short

but well descriptive annotated paragraph.

These sources can be text based or they

could also be online resources in the form

of video clips or audio recording. Each

statement is followed by an evaluative and

brief descriptive paragraph. The sole

purpose of these annotations is to guide the

reader of the accuracy, relevance, and

quality of the sources mentioned (Corenel

University 2020).

Keywords: Annotations , Assignment

,Bibliography, Citation

I. AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

PROVIDES A NUMBER OF PURPOSES

WHICH INCLUDES FOLLOWING BUT

NOT LIMITED TO:

Represent the quality of Research work

that you have done

Provide the types of sources available in

that particular subject

Describe other content on a topic that

may be of interest to the learner

Inspire the reader for further research in

that subject

The annotated bibliography may be

comprehensive or selective in its coverage.

A selective Annotated Bibliography

contains only those contents that are more

suitable for the subject while an exhaustive

annotated bibliography tries to discover all

that is available to us on a subject (Studybay

2020).

II. INTRODUCTION

Annotations in an annotated

bibliography used to perform two functions,

evaluate the source and describe the source.

The annotation is an accurate and concise

description of a specific source, including

vital aspects of content not obvious in the

title. It provides opportunity to the

researcher to establish the relevance of a

particular journal article, research report,

book, or government document, etc. and to

decide whether to refer the complete text of

the work. Abstracts, such as those found in

individual periodical databases or those

found in scholarly journal articles are

generally just descriptive summaries

(Dominican University 2018).

III. HOW TO WRITE A PERFECT

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY?

As majority of people do not have

proper knowledge of drafting an annotated

bibliography? Don’t worry; I have written

the perfect guide that will benefit you to nail

this task easily.

Follow these points conscientiously

to draft annotated bibliographies in less time

and submit flawless Assignments.

1. MENTION ABOUT THE

QUALIFICATIONS OF THE WRITER OF

THE SOURCE

In usual bibliographies, students only

have to mention the name of the writer in

the bibliography section. However, in order

to write an annotated bibliography, you must

mention about the qualifications of the

Copyright © 2020 PhdAssistance. All rights reserved 2

writer of your source. This helps the future

aspirant Researchers as well as professors

to evaluate and analysis the credibility of

your project/assignments as well.

At times, many research assignments

demand the researchers to get in contact

with the author directly to gather more

knowledge on a particular topic. So it

becomes important to select your source

materials from genuine websites. Ask these

questions which are mentioned below for the

prior assessment of your sources:

Is the writer qualified enough to write on

this particular subject?

Is the writer associated with an eminent

institution in this discipline?

Is the writer an expert in this domain?

Is this the latest and reliable edition of

the source?

2. WRITE A BRIEF SUMMARY OF

YOUR WORK

To score the maximum marks in the

assignments, you must draft a well-crafted

summary of your overall text in the

bibliography section. The main objective of

including this summary is to aware the

readers about the vital elements they are

about to seek from the assignment. This

summary also helps the readers to determine

the sections whether the writer have added

new Information to the Research pool

apart from iterating the pre-existing

information.

Attempts to summarize the core

theme and scope of the article or book in

this section and touch on how this research

work highlights your bibliography topic.

3. COMMENT ON THE READERS OF

YOUR ASSIGNMENT

Don’t forget to discuss about the

readers of your assignment in the annotated

bibliography. This makes your professors

understood that you know who you are

writing for. Knowledge of your target

audience will keep the state of affairs of

your assignment precise and focused. So do

not miss to check the relevancy of the

context of your assignment with your target

audience

Also, institutes ask you to maintain a

specific format while writing your

bibliographies. In case you are not sure

about the various formats like MLA

Chicago, APA etc. use an online annotated

bibliography generator to simplify the task

(Peter Redman 2013).

IV. SUMMARY

The sole purpose of an annotated

bibliography is to work as a memory support

during the research process. In writing

assignment and other academic projects,

professors often use annotated

bibliographies as a tool for students to check

how their research work is going, but think

of it as that memory support even when

you’re writing assignment for a class.

An annotated bibliography is a list of

reference cited in assignment where each

source has both short paragraph and a

properly formatted bibliographic entry.

Annotation is that sums up the source, notes

the content specifically interesting about the

source and it may include a short overview

of how you’ll use the source.

If you’re writing it for an

assignment work then discuss with your

professor to be certain of what content the

professor wants (Westernsydney 2017).

Being a full version of the references

page, the Annotated Bibliography could be a

comprehensive list of literature utilized in

the Essay or Research Paper meant to

prove the author's point. It consists of the

complete references to the used sources,

furthermore as their summaries, which is

Copyright © 2020 PhdAssistance. All rights reserved 2

what makes it different from a typical

bibliography.

The topics for an annotated

bibliography should match the titles of the

analyzed material so as to supply a close

answer to the research question. Usually, the

scholars are encouraged to cite two basic

sorts of sources: Primary and Secondary.

While secondary sources, like interview or

survey, aren't that critical, the first sources

are obligatory to read and cite. They include:

• Books and e-Books

• Magazines

• Newspapers

• Academic journals

• Scholarly articles

• Websites

• Videos

It is essential to cite and reference

every source correctly. In fact, the author is

required to try to do that every time they add

an indirect or direct in-text citation

(Barthélemy and Geyer 2005).

REFERENCES

[1] Barthélemy, Jérôme, and Dominique Geyer. 2005. “An

Empirical Investigation of IT Outsourcing versus

Quasi-Outsourcing in France and Germany.”

Information & Management 42(4): 533–42.

https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S037872

0604000503.

[2] Corenel University. 2020. “How to Prepare an

Annotated Bibliography: The Annotated

Bibliography.”

http://guides.library.cornell.edu/annotatedbibliograp

hy.

[3] Dominican University. 2018. “How to Write an

Annotated Bibliography.”

http://libanswers.dominican.edu/Reference/faq/8408.

[4] Peter Redman. 2013. “Good Essay Writing: A Social

Sciences Guide (SAGE Study Skills Series).”

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Good-Essay-Writing-

Study-Skills/dp/0857023713.

[5] Studybay. 2020. “Annotated Bibliography Writing Help

Online.”

https://contentwriting.expert/?ref=ebeacd89cdbf3462

&utm_campaign=Blondinka_US_AnnotatedBibliogr

aphy_2_WEB&utm_term=writing an annotated

bibliography&type_id=14&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIz

NP8tL_76AIVwYaPCh1h8AojEAAYASAAEgL_Vf

D_BwE.

[6] Westernsydney. 2017. Annotated Bibliography.

https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf

_file/0017/1340450/Annotated_bibliography.pdf.