How To Cite

What is an annotated bibliography?

• An annotated bibliography is a list of citations for sources. What makes an annotated bibliography different is that after each citation, you include a short paragraph that summarizes and evaluates each source's content.
  
  
• Annotated bibliography entries may be in MLA, APA, Chicago or another accepted style format.
  
  
• Entry content may be descriptive, evaluative, or both. Consult your instructor or your syllabus for specific assignment requirements.

What is the purpose of annotated bibliographies?

• Provide a "trail of breadcrumbs" by which other researchers may verify your claims or further their own studies

• Encourage you to begin your research early and investigate relevant sources before you have to present your ideas in a paper or other project

• Explore the relevance of specific resources to your project or the subject's complete body of study

An abstract is a descriptive summary of an article's content that is found at the beginning of an article in an academic journal or online database. Abstracts do not evalulate or critique the article or its author(s.) Researchers may use abstracts as tools to quickly grasp the details of an article and to assess its value as it relates to a specific project.

Annotations, while they may be descriptive, offer critical analysis of the resource's author, content, and relevance.

Example of an annotated bibliography entry in MLA style courtesy of The Writing Center, UNC-Chapel Hill:

London, Herbert. "Five Myths of the Television Age." Television Quarterly 10.1    

    (1982): 81-89.

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 doesn't refer to any previous works on the topic. London's style and vocabulary would make the article of interest to any reader.

View more samples in other major styles from the Purdue OWL

Example of an MLA-style abstract from a scholarly research article, citation included (courtesy of Cornell University Library):

Waite, Linda J., Frances Kobrin Goldscheider, and Christina Witsberger. "Nonfamily Living and the Erosion of Traditional Family Orientations Among Young Adults." American Sociological Review 51.4 (1986): 541-554. Print.

The authors, researchers at the Rand Corporation and Brown University, use data from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Young Women and Young Men to test their hypothesis that nonfamily living by young adults alters their attitudes, values, plans, and expectations, moving them away from their belief in traditional sex roles. They find their hypothesis strongly supported in young females, while the effects were fewer in studies of young males. Increasing the time away from parents before marrying increased individualism, self-sufficiency, and changes in attitudes about families. In contrast, an earlier study by Williams cited below shows no significant gender differences in sex role attitudes as a result of nonfamily living.

Example of an MLA-style abstract from a scientific research article, citation included:

Marco Musiani1, et al. "Effects Of Wolves On Elk And Cattle Behaviors: Implications For Livestock Production And Wolf Conservation." Plos ONE 5.8    (2010): 1-9. Academic Search Complete. Web. 12 Feb. 2013.

Background: In many areas, livestock are grazed within wolf (Canis lupus) range. Predation and harassment of livestock by wolves creates conflict and is a significant challenge for wolf conservation. Wild prey, such as elk (Cervus elaphus), perform anti-predator behaviors. Artificial selection of cattle (Bos taurus) might have resulted in attenuation or absence of antipredator responses, or in erratic and inconsistent responses. Regardless, such responses might have implications on stress and fitness. Methodology/Principal Findings: We compared elk and cattle anti-predator responses to wolves in southwest Alberta, Canada within home ranges and livestock pastures, respectively. We deployed satellite- and GPS-telemetry collars on wolves, elk, and cattle (n = 16, 10 and 78, respectively) and measured seven prey response variables during periods of wolf presence and absence (speed, path sinuosity, time spent head-up, distance to neighboring animals, terrain ruggedness, slope and distance to forest). During independent periods of wolf presence (n = 72), individual elk increased path sinuosity (Z =22.720, P = 0.007) and used more rugged terrain (Z =22.856, P = 0.004) and steeper slopes (Z =23.065, P = 0.002). For cattle, individual as well as group behavioral analyses were feasible and these indicated increased path sinuosity (Z =22.720, P = 0.007) and decreased distance to neighbors (Z =22.551, P = 0.011). In addition, cattle groups showed a number of behavioral changes concomitant to wolf visits, with variable direction in changes. Conclusions/Significance: Our results suggest both elk and cattle modify their behavior in relation to wolf presence, with potential energetic costs. Our study does not allow evaluating the efficacy of anti-predator behaviors, but indicates that artificial selection did not result in their absence in cattle. The costs of wolf predation on livestock are often compensated considering just the market value of the animal killed. However, society might consider refunding some additional costs (e.g., weight loss and reduced reproduction) that might be associated with the changes in cattle behaviors that we documented.

1. Conduct research on your topic using a variety of sources appropriate to your assignment.

2. Assemble a selection of resources that offer a number of differing persepctives on your topic.

3. Cite the resource according to the required style (APA, MLA, or other.)

4. Write a brief paragraph that includes the following:

• A description of the resource's content
• An evaluation of the author's assertions, authority and intended audience
• A critique of the resource's relevance to your topic
• An analysis of the resource's relation to other works on the subject

*Not all of your entries will be the same length. A 2-page journal article may be summarized in 1-2 sentences while a longer source, such as a book, may require a paragraph.

Online resources for creating annotated bibliographies:

We consulted the following sources in creating this page:

American Psychological Association. Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. 5th ed. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association, 2001.

“Annotated Bibliographies.” The Writing Center. 2010. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 11 Feb 2013 http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/annotated-bibliographies/.

 “How to Prepare an Annotated Bibliography.” Cornell University Libraries. 2012. Cornell University. 11 Feb 2013 <http://olinuris.library.cornell.edu/ref/research/skill28.htm>.

“Writing an Annotated Bibliography.” Robert E. Kennedy Library. (n.d.). California Polytechnic State University, San Louis Obispo. 11 Feb 2013 http://lib.calpoly.edu/research/guides/bibliography.html.