What is annotated bibliography and what are its peculiarities?

An annotated bibliography is a type of reference list, which is encompassed by comments concerning the source. Depending on the kind of annotated bibliography, a writer can attach his evaluative judgement, or describe the source, its author as well as the main idea. An annotated bibliography can be both an autonomous academic assignment or a part of a paper. The primary task of an author is to render to a target reader the original sense of a specific source. A writer may add some general facts describing the info and provide one’s critical evaluation of a particular cause.

The annotated bibliography usually consist of two sense blocks. The first one presupposes citing of the particular book, article or document. The second block demands from author providing certain evaluative judgements concerning the source or present the description. Exist two basic type of annotated bibliography. The summary type presupposes availability of the general info about the source cited. It should comprise the title of a reference, its type, the author as well as main issues discussed, info about the origin of a reference and how it has become popular. The descriptive type demands from an author proving of a general evaluative judgements taking as a basis a number of criteria – accuracy, relevance and quality.

APA format annotated bibliography

APA stands for American psychological association and is one of the most widely used formatting styles as well as MLA style. While preparing apa format annotated bibliography, an author should be aware of several rules, standards and nuances that will be handy in the writing process. A writer should be aware of the following formatting rules:

1. Each annotative passage should comprise 1 paragraph. The approximate number of words equals 150-200.
2. Primarily, a writer has to paste the citation. After it follows the annotation. It should be located two spaces from the left margin as a block.
3. Concerning the implementation of the citations, the first line of the begin at the left margin, and next lines of the citation should have four spaces. The annotation should follow APA style, the first line of every paragraph is indented.
4. The whole reference list should be double-spaced.
5. A writer should use the third person singular while comprising either summarising or descriptive apa annotated bibliography.
6. Concerning the content, one has to focus on the compilation of paper, which will provide the description of a source and prove the target reader the relevance of the book or article to a particular topic.
7. Be sure to polish the paper properly, taking into consideration all the formatting rules and structural peculiarities.
   These annotated bibliography APA formatting guidelines are the key for the compilation of a proper bibliography!

Template and structural specificities

Exists an established APA format annotated bibliography template following of which will allow preparing the annotation enhanced with the relevant info. The author has to start with the citation of a book, article or another source using APA standards. The passage should comprise approximately 150-300 words presented in one paragraph. After the citation, an author has to include the brief summary of a book or article. After that, it is possible to describe the strength and weaknesses of a source. The following sentences should be dedicated to the analysis of thoughts and motives of the author of the reference. It is essential to discuss the author’s positions and any bias that he or she may have.

If the reference list includes similar sources, a writer can discuss their similarities and differences. If the writer is working on the descriptive bibliography, he can implement some interesting facts and catchy info that may be relevant to the topic. It is obligatory to include the conclusions. After conclusions, one has to prove the relevance of the source to the particular field of study. The presence of the info about author’s background would also be considered proper. The last sentence should comprise material explaining the writer’s attitude to the source as well as his impressions. It is always a prolific strategy to consult the sample annotated bibliography apa format to see, how the rules are implemented in practice.

Annotated Bibliography APA Format
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