How to write an annotated bibliography

General guidelines

Carefully read the course assignment instructions.
If you are still unclear, check with your professor on the type of annotated bibliography that is required for the assignment.
Main Types of Annotated Bibliographies:
- Summary/descriptive – provides a concise overview of the main arguments, evidence presented, and conclusions
- Critical/evaluative – in addition to providing an overview, analyzes the content; comments on the strengths and weaknesses of the arguments, evidence, and conclusions; explains the usefulness of the source for your research topic.
- Combination - most annotated bibliography assignments require that you include both an overview and evaluative comments.
Most annotated bibliographies organize sources alphabetically by the first author's last name.
Consistently follow the rules of the style guide (APA, MLA, Chicago, Other Guides) that is indicated in your course assignment instructions; the style guide will detail what information to include for each type of source and how it should be formatted.
For more detailed guidelines on writing an annotated bibliography, please refer to the following:
- Carleton University Libraries: Writing an Annotated Bibliography (video)
- Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL): Annotated Bibliographies
- University of Alberta Libraries: Annotated Bibliographies
- University of Toronto: Writing an Annotated Bibliography