Citations
Annotated bibliography: examples and how to write one
An annotated bibliography is a list of sources in which each citation is followed by a short paragraph, the annotation. The annotation sums up the source, judges how reliable and useful it is, and explains how it fits your research. Most annotations run 100 to 200 words.
An annotated bibliography looks like a Works Cited or References page with one addition: under each citation you write a paragraph about the source. Teachers assign it because it makes you read your sources closely before you start drafting, and because it lets them see your research while there is still time to fix it. Done well, it also saves you work later, since your annotations become ready-made notes for the paper.
What is an annotated bibliography?
Each entry has two parts. The first is a full citation in the style your course uses, such as MLA, APA or Chicago. The second is the annotation: a paragraph, in your own words, that describes the source and usually evaluates it. A plain bibliography gives only the citations (see bibliography vs. works cited). An annotation is also different from an abstract. Authors write abstracts to describe their own work; you write the annotation to judge the work and connect it to your project.
What goes in an annotation?
Most annotations answer some mix of the questions below. Your assignment sheet may ask for all of them or only a few, so check it before you start.
- Who wrote it? Give the author's background or credentials when they matter, such as a nurse writing about hospital staffing.
- What kind of source is it? A peer-reviewed study, a news report, a memoir, a government report and a blog post carry very different weight.
- What is the main point? State the central argument or finding in one or two sentences.
- How does the author support it? Name the evidence: a survey, interviews, lab tests, archival letters, statistics or personal experience.
- How good is it? Note strengths (recent, large sample, careful methods) and limits (small sample, one region, clear bias, outdated data).
- How does it compare? Say whether it agrees with, adds to or challenges your other sources.
- How will you use it? Explain which part of your paper it supports, or why it turned out less useful than you hoped.
Three kinds of annotations
| Type | What it does | Typical length |
|---|---|---|
| Descriptive (also called indicative) | Says what the source covers and what kind of work it is, without judging it. | 2 to 4 sentences |
| Summary (also called informative) | Reports the main argument, evidence and conclusions, like a short abstract. | 4 to 6 sentences |
| Evaluative (also called critical) | Summarizes briefly, then judges quality, bias and usefulness, and links the source to your research. | 100 to 200 words |
When an assignment just says "annotated bibliography" with no other detail, it almost always wants the third kind: a short summary, an evaluation and a sentence or two about how you will use the source. That combination shows your teacher that you understood the source and thought about it, which is the real point of the exercise.
How to write an annotated bibliography, step by step
- Read the assignment. Note the citation style, the number and type of sources required, the annotation length and what each annotation must cover.
- Find more sources than you need. Use your library's catalog and databases, and keep only sources that pass a credibility check.
- Read each source actively. Mark the thesis, the key evidence and any passages you might quote. For a long book, the introduction, the conclusion and one or two relevant chapters are often enough.
- Write the citation first, carefully, in the required style. Getting it right now saves you from rebuilding it for your final paper.
- Draft a summary of two or three sentences in your own wording. If you need the author's exact phrase, put it in quotation marks.
- Add your evaluation: the source's strengths, its limits and how it compares with your other sources.
- Finish with a sentence on how you will use the source in your paper.
- Put the entries in alphabetical order by the first word of each citation, format the page and proofread every citation against the style rules.
How long should an annotation be?
The usual range is 100 to 200 words, or about one solid paragraph. Some high school assignments ask for 50 to 100 words, and some graduate courses want 250 words or more. If you get no guidance, aim for about 150 words in a single paragraph. Cut anything that just repeats the title, and skip filler openings such as "This article is about..." when you could open with the author's actual claim.
MLA annotated bibliography example
In MLA 9, the page follows the same rules as a Works Cited page: double-spaced, entries in alphabetical order, each citation with a half-inch hanging indent. Title the page "Annotated Bibliography" (or "Annotated List of Works Cited" if every source appears in your paper). Start each annotation on the line after its citation and indent the whole annotation as a block, usually one inch from the left margin so it sits inside the citation's wrapped lines. If your teacher shows a different layout, follow it.
Mensah, Kofi. Rooftop Harvest: Growing Food in Crowded Cities. Fernbrook Press, 2020.
Mensah, a city planner who helped launch garden programs in three cities, argues that unused rooftops could supply a real share of a neighborhood's fresh vegetables if building codes made rooftop farming easier. The book combines case studies of five rooftop farms with practical chapters on soil weight, water use and insurance. Its strongest section compares harvest records from those farms over six growing seasons, which gives concrete figures instead of hopeful estimates. Mensah is openly in favor of rooftop farming, however, and he says little about the costs that forced two of the five farms to close. I will balance his view with the Lindqvist and Haddad survey of volunteer gardens. I plan to use the harvest figures in my second body section, which argues that small urban farms can make a measurable difference to food access.
APA annotated bibliography example
In APA 7, format the entries like a reference list: double-spaced, alphabetical, half-inch hanging indent, with article and book titles in sentence case. Put each annotation in a new paragraph under its reference, indented a half inch as a block so it lines up with the reference's wrapped lines. APA writers usually describe research in the past tense ("the authors found"), as the sample below does.
Lindqvist, N., & Haddad, O. (2022). Who tends the plots? Volunteer patterns in twelve community gardens. Journal of Urban Green Space, 9(2), 45-67. https://doi.org/10.5555/jugs.2022.0045
Lindqvist and Haddad surveyed 412 volunteers and interviewed 30 coordinators to learn who keeps community gardens running from one season to the next. They found that a small core of long-term members did most of the work in all twelve gardens, and that gardens with a paid part-time coordinator kept more of their first-year volunteers. The survey is large and the methods are clearly explained, but every garden was in a region with mild winters, so the results may not hold for colder cities. Because the article is recent and peer reviewed, it is one of my strongest sources. It supports my claim that gardens need steady funding, not just free land, and it offers a useful check on Mensah's (2020) more hopeful book.
Annotated bibliography template
[Full citation in MLA, APA or Chicago style, with a hanging indent]
[Author's name], a [credential or role], argues that [main claim]. To support this claim, the author [analyzes, surveys, reports, compares] [type of evidence]. The [book, article, report] is especially useful for its [strength], although it [limitation]. Compared with [another source], it [agrees, disagrees, adds detail]. I will use it to [purpose in your paper].
Sentence starters for annotations
- In this [study, memoir, report], [Author] argues that...
- Drawing on [interviews with 40 nurses, census data, letters from the 1890s], the author shows that...
- The central finding is that...
- The author's experience as a [role] gives the book credibility on...
- One limitation is that...
- Unlike [another author], who claims that..., this source...
- This source supports my argument that...
- I will use the [chapter, table, case study] on... in my section about...
- Although useful for background, the source is too [old, narrow, general] to...
Common mistakes
- Summarizing only. If the assignment asks for evaluation, a pure summary loses points.
- Copying the abstract. Rewording a database abstract is not your annotation, and close rewording can count as plagiarism.
- Starting every annotation the same way. Vary your openings and lead with the author's claim.
- Sloppy citations. Check capitalization, italics and punctuation in every entry; these are the easiest points to lose.
- Wrong order. Alphabetize by the first word of each citation (usually the author's last name), not by the order you found the sources.
- Skipping the hanging indent, or adding extra blank lines between entries.
- Including sources you never read. An annotation quickly shows when a writer only skimmed the title.
Annotated bibliography vs. literature review
An annotated bibliography treats each source separately, one entry at a time. A literature review is an essay that groups sources by theme, compares them and shows where the research agrees, disagrees or leaves gaps. Many students write an annotated bibliography first and then use it as raw material for a literature review or for the body of a research paper. Your annotations already hold the summaries; the review adds the connections between them.
Check yourself
1. What comes right after each citation in an annotated bibliography?
Answer: A paragraph about the source. Each citation is followed by an annotation, a paragraph that summarizes and usually evaluates the source.
2. An assignment just says "annotated bibliography" with no other details. Which kind of annotation is the safest choice?
Answer: Summary plus evaluation and planned use. Most teachers expect a short summary, a judgment of quality and a note on how you will use the source.
3. How should the entries be ordered?
Answer: Alphabetically by the first word of each citation. Like a Works Cited or References page, entries go in alphabetical order, usually by the author's last name.
4. Is it fine to paste the database abstract in place of your annotation?
Answer: No, write your own summary and evaluation. The abstract is the author's description. The annotation must be your own words and your own judgment.
Pick an answer to start.