How to create an Annotated Bibliography
Critically evaluating your secondary sources
 Your secondary sources must be relevant and reliable.
 Creating an Annotated Bibliography will help you to critically evaluate your sources (see
below).
What is an Annotated Bibliography?
 An annotated bibliography synthesizes the secondary sources you intend to use to support
your paper.
Why create an Annotated Bibliography?
 Provides context and background for your research.
 Demonstrates that you have critically evaluated your sources.
 Helps you use your sources to support your evidence and construct your arguments.
What to include in an Annotated Bibliography
 Bibliographic Information (author, title, date, journal, url or doi, page range)
 Author‘s credentials
 Theme (1-2 sentence synopsis)
 Support for the work (links, data, bibliography)
 Usefulness of the work as it relates to your research topic
Annotated Bibliography form
 Download a printable Annotated Bibliography Form.
 Use the Annotated Bibliography Example as a guide.
How to use your Annotated Bibliography
 Synthesize your Annotated Bibliography into a 1-3 paragraph Literature Review, linking
existing research to your investigation.
 Your Literature Review can be included in your introduction, or it can appear under a separate
heading entitled “Literature Review”, “Background”, or “Context” for example. The heading
should NOT be called “Annotated Bibliography”.