How to write an annotated bibliography?

Is there anything easier than to conclude a record of published sources you need to write a decent academic paper? But be aware of tricky moments. First of all, what is an annotated bibliography definition? A good annotated bibliography provides an arranged list of publications necessary for conducting diverse studies. As a rule, students have to indicate bibliographic data about the writer of the published text, title of this work, time of publishing, publishing house, the number of pages, etc.

A structure for the annotated bibliography

Is there anything easier than to conclude a record of published sources you need to write a decent academic paper? But be aware of tricky moments. First of all, what is an annotated bibliography definition? A good annotated bibliography provides an arranged list of publications necessary for conducting diverse studies. As a rule, students have to indicate bibliographic data about the writer of the published text, title of this work, time of publishing, publishing house, the number of pages, etc.

Don’t confuse this type of paper with a simple bibliography. What differs this bibliographic work from a simple bibliography is that after providing your citation you need to write a short annotation about the publication in question. You should define your personal subjective insights. They consist of several paragraphs describing another aspect of this issue in a new one. These lists can take a various amount of pages. A brief summary won’t take a lot of space – a thorough analysis may take a couple of pages. Also, your annotation has to give a description of your entire paper for readers to determine if they need to read this work or not. Different assignments have divergent purposes.

The aims of annotated bibliographies also vary in terms of the kind of work to deliver. Your list can help to specify a thesis statement, write a literature review, describe how scientific research of this certain issue is developing or indicate examples of relevant types of publication. You should be aware of your objectives. Annotated bibliographies can be categorized according to two different approaches – descriptive and evaluative ones.

The descriptive or informative bibliography provides a brief summary of a source. It reveals how it can be useful for determining peculiarities and characteristics of the topic in question. The evaluative or critical one deals with the scientific analysis of the matter, its drawbacks and advantages, problems in a theoretical framework, effectiveness and application, connection with other fields, etc. You should examine the content of this publication, its place within the discipline and connection with your own research.

The reference list can be found at the end of the work and has to enumerate suitable articles, books, Websites pages, etc. – every published issue relevant to your topic. It’s typical to indicate citing sources before the summary annotation. The principal points of publication, relations to the studied issue, uniqueness of the material as well as theoretical achievements, their pluses and minuses, should be defined. Several methods of annotated bibliographies organizing can be employed. Information can be sorted according to the publishing date or to the alphabet; you can create special subtopics to elaborate more detailed division, divide publications in terms of its format or even differentiate sources by the language of writing.

Citations can be arranged in several formats, including a very popular MLA or APA style. American Psychological Association (APA) has elaborated citation format for humanitarian disciplines as psychology, sociology, history and other fields – business, economics, marketing, etc. Modern Language Association (MLA) is used to cite publications in liberal arts and other humanitarian fields. These two formats have their distinct features and are highly widespread in the academic world. Consult your professor to specify what type of citation is required in this particular case to deliver an immaculate paper.