A bibliography (also called References or Works Cited) is a list of sources. An annotated bibliography also begins with a citation but contains additional information about each source. An annotated bibliography may just summarize sources, in other words, explain the purpose/objectives and main points of a study or may go further by exploring how this study relates to others in the field (Writing Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, n.d.). More extensive annotated bibliographies are sometimes called evaluative annotated bibliographies or critical annotated bibliographies (Memorial Library, n.d.). Evaluative or critical annotations evaluate each source through judgements about quality. Aspects of evaluation may include the work's importance, the author's qualifications or bias, accuracy of information, and/or significant limitations (University of Washington Bothell & Cascadia College Library, n.d.)
The 7th ed. of the APA book (American Psychological Association, 2020) has information about the formatting of annotated bibliographies on page 307 and a sample annotated bibliography on page 309.
The references below have additional information about writing annotated bibliographies.
References (starred * references include examples of annotations)
*American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.).
*Atkinson, D. (2020). Writing evaluative annotated bibliographies. In Mindful technical writing. https://oer.pressbooks.pub/opentrailstechnicalwriting/chapter/writing-evaluative-annotated-bibliographies/
*Memorial Library. (n.d.). How to write annotated bibliographies. https://www.library.mun.ca/researchtools/guides/citations/annotated_bibl/
Purdue Owl. (n.d.). Annotated bibliographies. https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/common_writing_assignments/annotated_bibliographies/index.html
*University of Washington Bothell & Cascadia College Library. (n.d.). Annotated bibliographies: Evaluative annotations. .https://guides.lib.uw.edu/c.php?g=345680&p=2331781
Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. (n.d.). Annotated bibliographies. https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/annotated-bibliographies/
