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APA

Get help with APA citation style

What's an Annotated Bibliography?

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?

Examples and explanations:

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 annotation will be right below the citation.

Elrayah, M. (2021). Can business ethics-based education improve HR graduates' employability, knowledge, skills, and competence? Journal of Education for

             Business, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/08832323.2021.1874255

In this section, you will write the annotation for the source you have cited above. You will write a summary and an evaluation/reflection. For the summary, briefly

write about the source. Focus on describing your source, such as the author's qualifications and why the source was created. Describe the main ideas/arguments, and

identify the cited source's intended audience. In your evaluation, critically assess the selected source for accuracy, relevance, and quality. Explain why each source is

useful for your research topic and how it relates to your topic. Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the source. Identify the observations or conclusions of the

author. Explain the author's expertise, point of view, and any bias he/she may have about the topic. Reflect on how you will use the source in your essay or how it

will help you support your points. Your assignment asks you to include a summary and evaluation/ reflection. The annotation paragraph (each of them) should be

4-8 sentences long.

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.

How Do You Create an APA Annotated Bibliography?

Links to websites that do not include Bryantstratton.edu in the address are suggested as information helpful for students and faculty. The websites are not affiliated with Bryant & Stratton College.