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SOC101: Introduction to Sociology

An annotated bibliography is a summary and/or evaluation of your bibliography which is a list of sources (books, journals, Web sites, periodicals, etc.) one has used for researching a topic. Bibliographies are sometimes called "References" or "Works Cited" depending on the style format you are using. A bibliography usually just includes the bibliographic information (i.e., the author, title, publisher, etc.).

What's an Annotated Bibliography?

How To Write an Annotation

Annotated bibiographies are designed to help you be selective about your sources. They encourage you to find, summarize, and evaluate only the best sources on your topic and prepare you to more easily organize your paper.

Basically, it's a reference page or works cited page with a short paragraph describing each source. 

There are three parts to an annotated entry in a bibliography:

  1. A citation for the source done in the chosen citation style (APA, MLA, etc.)
  2. A summary of the source: one or two sentences describing the source: what information it covers, and the purpose of the source.
  3. An evaluation of the source: this can include an assessment of the expertise of the author, an evaluation of the scope of the work, etc. Is the source useful? Current? Reliable? Authoritative? Accurate? Fact or opinion? Also, you can include an assessment on the significance of the source as it relates to your topic. Usually an evaluation is two to three sentences long.