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How to Write an Annotated Bibliography

What is an annotated bibliography?

An annotated bibliography is a list of citations to books, articles, and documents. Each citation is followed by a brief (usually about 150 words) descriptive and evaluative paragraph, the annotation. The purpose of the annotation is to inform the reader of the relevance, accuracy, and quality of the sources cited.

What is the difference between an annotated bibliography and...?

...the bibliography I normally put at the end of my research papers?

The bibliography you put at the end of your research papers is a list of citations, with no annotations, and it is included in your research for the purpose of giving credit to your sources of information. An annotated bibliography contains descriptions of each citation and its purpose is to make it easier for other researchers to identify useful articles.

 

....an abstract of a paper?

Abstracts are the descriptive summaries often found at the beginning of scholarly journal articles or in periodical indexes. Like the annotations in an annotated bibliography, abstracts serve the purpose of helping researchers identify useful sources. But abstracts are often longer than the annotations in annotated bibliographies. Also, they are purely descriptive and do not offer any analysis of the work they describe. Annotations are descriptive and critical. They may describe the author's point of view, authority, or clarity and appropriateness of expression.