Writing Help: Grammar, Style & Structure

An annotated bibliography is a list of books, articles, and other sources by one author or on one subject that includes a brief descriptive commentary for each item.

Annotated bibliographies can be:

     •  An assignment in which a student provides a list of sources that will be used for a project, research paper or thesis

     •  A research tool that provides an overview of relevant sources that a researcher may wish to use or read, which can be formally published in scholarly journals

In addition to publication details, an annotated bibliography will typically include some or all of the following information for each item:

      •  Summary of the content and main purpose of the item

      •  Identification of the intended audience and point of view

      •  Explanation of how and why the source is relevant, reliable and credible for a particular discipline or topic

      •  Critique of the item, such as biases or flaws in argumentation

      •  Assessment of the item's suitability for an academic project or research paper