Guides: MLA Style Guide: Annotated Bilbiography

Annotated Bibliographies

What is a bibliography?

A bibliography is a list of sources on a particular topic. Put together, an annotated bibliography is a list of sources on a topic that offers a summary for each source.

What is an annotated bibliography?

An annotated bibliography is a list of citations (or references) for books, articles, documents, etc: all the sources used for your research, with an accompanying paragraph that describes, explains and/or evaluates each entry in terms of quality, authority and relevance.

What three parts should be included in the summary part of an annotated bibliography?

A sentence or two that describes the author's credentials, purpose, and audience.
A brief summary of its content, and how this source is answering the research question, clarifying your understanding of the research, and/or reviewing the literature of the research, etc.
A sentence at the end of the summary that explains its value to the student.

Sample Evaluative Annotation

London, Herbert. “Five Myths of the Television Age.” Television Quarterly, vol. 10, no. 1, Mar. 1982, pp. 81-69. Herbert London, the Dean of Journalism at New York University and author of several books and articles, explains how television contradicts five commonly believed ideas. He uses specific examples of events seen on television, such as the assassination of John Kennedy, to illustrate his points. His examples have been selected to contradict such truisms as: “seeing is believing”; “a picture is worth a thousand words”; and “satisfaction is its own reward.” London uses logical arguments to support his ideas which are his personal opinion. He does not refer to any previous works on the topic. London’s style and vocabulary would make the article of interest to any reader. The article clearly illustrates London’s points, but does not explore their implications leaving the reader with many unanswered questions.

Adapted from:

"How to Write Annotated Bibliographies." Memorial University Libraries, www.library.mun.ca/researchtools/guides/writing/annotated_bibl/. Accessed 29 June 2016.