LIN 101: Introduction to Linguistics
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- LIN 101: Introduction to Linguistics
- Annotated Bibliographies
What is an annotated bibliography?
An annotated bibliography is a list of citations for different kinds of resources: books, articles, videos, and more. Following each citation there is a short paragraph (or annotation) that analyzes the source: its relevance to your research topic, its authorship, its intended audience, its accuracy, and even the methodology used. An annotated bibliography serves as a critical analysis of sources that you are consulting in your research and evaluates their relevancy and purpose.
Parts of an Annotated Bibliography
The two main components of an Annotated Bibliography are the Citation and the Annotation. Depending on the assignment, you may also need to include an introductory paragraph explaining your research topic.
1. Citation
The citation should be formatted in the style requested by your professor (MLA, APA, or Chicago, for example).
2. Annotation
The annotation is a paragraph (or could vary based on your assignment specifications) that analyzes the source. It summarizes the source and its conclusions, discusses its relevance to your topic of study, and reflects on its strengths and weaknesses.
MLA - style guide
"Style a source in an annotated bibliography just as you would one in a list of works cited, and then append an annotation to the end of the entry, indented an inch from the start of the entry (to distinguish it from the half-inch hanging indent of entries composed of more than one line)." (MLA Handbook, Ninth Edition, 2021)