APA

Writing an annotated bibliography:

Has your teacher required you to write an annotated bibliography? If you have never written one before this may sound foreign to you but don’t panic yet, writing an annotated bibliography is actually quite simple.

What is it?

First of all a Bibliography is simply a list of sources used in the process of researching and creating your work.

An Annotated Bibliography is a bibliography where each source listing is followed by a brief description. To your reader your annotated bibliography will act as a road map or travel guide to your research topic. It will show you where to go to find sources and generally what you can expect to find once you get there.

The annotated bibliography will look like a list of citations in alphabetical order followed by a brief paragraph describing it. The paragraph will generally be about 150 words in length and include the following information:

• Who is the author? – Are they a doctor, a professor, or someone who’s worked in the field? Are they affiliated with a university or other organization?
• What is the article about? – give the reader a very brief overview about what the source covers
• How is it relevant? – Tell the reader why this source is important to their topic. There are endless sources available for other researchers to use, why is this something they should see?
• What is your evaluation of the source? – How does this source compare to the other sources you have used?

Example:

First start by citing your source according to the Bryant & Stratton Collage APA style guide. Your citation will be double spaced with a hanging indent. The descriptive paragraph will be single spaced with no indent as shown below.

Nicklas, T. A., O’Neil, C. E., & Fulgoni, V. L. (2013, October). The nutritional role of flavored and white milk in the diets of children. Journal of School Health, 83(10), 728-733. doi:10.1111/josh.12087

This article was written by three experts in the field of nutrition. The authors include a professor at Children's Nutrition Research Center at Baylor College of Medicine, an alumni professor at the Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, and the senior vice president at Nutrition Impact, LLC. The authors note that school cafeterias are removing flavored milk as they are concerned the fat and sugar content negatively affect children’s diets. They describe the research they have done regarding the nutritional impact of flavored and non-flavored milk on the diets of children. They found that milk has an important nutritional role in the diets of children. They conclude that more research is needed to understand the effects of removing flavored milks from lunch rooms and other barriers to children’s milk consumption levels. This article is helpful for anyone researching children’s nutrition and healthy lunches in schools.