A bibliography is a list of citations for your sources (books, journals, websites, periodicals, etc.). It's like a Works Cited page at the end of a paper -- listing your source's author, title, publisher, etc. (usually in MLA format).
An annotation is a paragraph that goes underneath each citation. It usually includes a short summary of the source, an evaluation of the source's credibility, and an assessment of how you're going to use the source (or not) in your research paper (see below for more information).
To evaluate sources: Ask yourself what it is and whether it's a good source. This will help you become a better researcher.
To learn about your topic: Writing an annotated bibliography is excellent preparation for a research project. Collecting sources for a bibliography is useful, but when you have to write annotations for each source, you're forced to read each source more carefully. You begin to read more critically instead of just collecting information.
To help you formulate a thesis: Every good research paper is an argument. The purpose of research is to state and support a thesis. So a very important part of research is developing a thesis that is debatable, interesting, and current. Writing an annotated bibliography can help you gain a good perspective on what is being said about your topic. By reading and responding to a variety of sources on a topic, you'll start to see what the issues are, what people are arguing about, and you'll then be able to develop your own point of view.
Look for the following information about your source. You may not always find everything, but these are key points to consider. If you cannot find this information about your source, then it may not be a good source to use.
Author's Qualifications
Who is this author? What do you know about their credentials? Why are they a reliable source of information on this topic? Are they an expert in this subject? Do they have an advanced degree from a university? Do they have lots of experience in this subject? To learn more about your author, Google their name. You might find their LinkedIn page, resume, university profile or personal webpage. Ask a librarian if you need help researching an author.
Publisher or Sponsor
Examine the publisher of the book, periodicals or website. What do you know about them? Have you heard of them? Are they reputable? Well-known in this field? Biased on the topic? (Hint: you can ask a librarian or your instructor about the publisher's reputation if you're not sure.)
Bias
How biased is this source? Look at the author and the publisher - are they associated with a company, organization, institution, agency, etc. that would make them biased on this topic? Are they only telling you one side of the argument? Are they giving objective facts or opinion? Where are they getting their information from (what are their sources)? Are their sources biased? (Hint: pretty much everything is biased, and it's possible you can still use a biased source as long as it isn't too biased, and you can take the bias into account when using the information in your paper. Maybe look for other sources that present a different viewpoint to counteract the bias).
Evidence/Sources
Where is the author of this article getting their information? Do they cite sources at the end? Or do they refer to sources they used throughout the text? Do their sources look reliable/official or biased or not authoritative? If the author cites no sources, are they relying on their own expertise or first-hand experience (refer back to author's qualifications)?
Date
Look at the date of the source. How current is it? And how much does currency matter? Some subjects need to be more current than others (i.e. current events and technology go out of date very quickly, health information is only good for five years or so usually, but something historical would be useful much longer).
Audience
Who is the audience this source is geared to? Is it children, students, the general public, experts in a field, scholars and academics? Obviously, something geared for children is not appropriate for you to use, and something geared towards the general public may be okay depending on your purposes, but a scholarly source might be more detailed.
For more information about evaluating sources, see our research guide on for Evaluating Sources and check out the MLA Guide to Digital Literacy. Or Contact Us or Ask-A-Librarian.
The format of an annotated bibliography can vary, so if you're doing one for a different class, ask your instructor for specific guidelines.
MLA Header: Include a standard MLA header in the top-right corner of every page with your last name and page number
Standard MLA Format: Double space the entire annotated bibliography, and use a standard 12 point font such as Times New Roman. Use 1 inch margins.
Standard MLA Heading: Begin with a normal MLA heading (your name, instructor's name, course section, and date (in the top-left corner)
Title: On the next line, title your paper Annotated Bibliography and center it in the middle of the page
Working Thesis: Then include your working thesis statement that you're going to use in your research paper (and your annotated bibliography).
Bibliography: List MLA citations for your 5 sources, arrange them in alphabetical order.
Annotations: Under each citation, write a paragraph about each source that includes:
In English 101, the topics and types of sources will vary. Our sample strives to cover common types of sources and provide an example to guide you as you work on your annotated bibliography project. Please reach out to Ask a Librarian with any questions.
NOTE: The format and content of an annotated bibliography can vary; be sure to ask your instructor for specific guidelines. This example shows the standard Annotated Bibliography format for English 101 at Spartanburg Community College.
The image of a Sample Annotated Bibliography (ENG 101, MLA) below is labeled with image hotspots in form of purple circles with the letter 'i.' Click on these image hotspots to learn more about different parts of the Annotated Bibliography. A plain-text version follows the image. If you have any questions, please reach out to Ask a Librarian.
This is a plain-text version of the notes and their context for creating an Annotated Bibliography in MLA format (Eng. 101) from the sample annotated bibliography with image hotspots above. If you have any questions, please reach out to Ask a Librarian.
The Annotated Bibliography follows similar formatting as an essay with double-spacing, 1-inch margins, and an easy-to-read standard font size and style such as Times New Roman or Aptos, 11 or 12 point. See our Formatting Your Paper guide for more step-by-step directions.
For the entire document, you'll want to insert a Header that contains your last name and the page numbers in the top-right corner of each page. See our Formatting Your Paper guide for more guidance.
Example: King 1
The MLA annotated bibliography begins with the standard MLA information about the student left-aligned on the first lines of the document. Type the following, each on it's own line: student's name, instructor's name, course, and due date. See our Formatting Your Paper guide for more guidance.
Example: Nelson King
Mr. Zachary Martin
ENG 101
14 Nov. 2024
After the student information, on the next line of the document, list the title of the Annotated Bibliography (it may just be Annotated Bibliography). Center-align this title.
Example: Annotated Bibliography
Research begins with a question. Your thesis will be the answer to this question. So begin with a question you want to find the answer to. What are you researching and why? This research question will guide your research and lead you to sources that will help you answer this question in the form of your thesis.
On the next line after your title, use the label "Research Question:" before typing your question. In the example, Research Question is underlined, the first letter of each word is capitalized, and it is followed by a colon.
Example: Research Question: Are Indigenous People suffering human rights abuses in Australia?
As you research, you will begin to develop your thesis. This is the thesis or main point/argument of the essay or project that goes along with the Annotated Bibliography. The goal of the Annotated Bibliographies is to help you gather and analyze your sources that you will choose to use or not use to complete a larger project/essay. Since completing the annotated bibliography is the beginning of the research process, your thesis will not be fully formed. This is why it is referred to as your working thesis. Based on your current research, what do you plan to argue in your research paper?
On the next line after your research question, use the label "Working Thesis:" before typing your thesis. In the example, Working Thesis is underlined, the first letter of each word is capitalized, and it is followed by a colon.
Example: Working Thesis: Australia’s prisons have a history of neglecting prisoners with disabilities and mental health issues which is resulting in preventable deaths especially of Indigenous prisoners.
After the working thesis, on the next line, you will list the MLA citation for your first source. Note - as you add more sources, they should be in alphabetical order and appear just as they would on your Works Cited page. This listing of your sources is the bibliography part of an ‘annotated bibliography.’ All citations should have a hanging indent just like on a Works Cited page.
Example: Allam, Lorena, et al. "The 147 Dead: Terrible Toll of Indigenous Deaths in Custody Spurs Calls for Reform." The Guardian [London, England], 27 Aug. 2018. Gale In Context: Biography, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A551943864/GPS?u=spartechcl&xid=e1feeced.
After each MLA citation, on the next line, you’ll have an annotation for that source. This is a paragraph that goes underneath each citation. In the example, the paragraph has no indentation. For SCC, the paragraph should include a short summary of the source, an evaluation of the source's credibility, and how you're going to use the source (or not) in your research paper. Begin your annotation by summarizing the main ideas of the source in a 2-3 of sentences. Summaries do not typically have quotes from the article – just write the major points of the source in your own words.
Example: This newspaper article covers the results of a ten-year investigation by The Guardian into deaths of Indigenous Australians while in police custody. It contains statistics about the issue and details about individual cases. There are recommendations for independent monitoring and implementation of the Royal Commission’s recommendations.
After the summary in the same paragraph, you need to evaluate the source’s credibility in several sentences. This is where you will examine different parts of the source – author, publisher/publication, evidence, date of publication, and bias – to see if this is a credible and appropriate source for your project. You likely won’t find a source that’s 100% perfect on everything, so use your judgement about the overall quality of the source. Also, you don’t need to list everything you find about the author or publisher/publication; focus on listing enough to prove their credentials while still keeping it short. The example below is the full evaluation. Afterward, we'll break down each piece with more information.
Example: There are three authors, who are all experienced journalists for The Guardian and have won awards for their reporting. Calla Wahlquist and Nick Evershed both have degrees in journalism, and Lorena Allam is The Guardian's Indigenous Affairs editor and has been a journalist and broadcaster for 30 years. This article was published in the award-winning The Guardian newspaper. According to Allsides.com, The Guardian is typically considered “left leaning” on the political spectrum but the site doesn’t raise any concerns about its accuracy. This source is from 2018 and some of the information is from more than 30 years ago, but it shows the history of this issue and provides valuable background for an ongoing issue. The authors use credible sources as evidence, including prisoners’ perspectives, and cite authorities and experts to support their statements.
Evaluate the author's qualifications. In this example, there are multiple authors. The student has evaluated each of the author's qualifications but notice how they summarize things the author's have in common like their job and where they work to keep the section short.
Example: There are three authors, who are all experienced journalists for The Guardian and have won awards for their reporting. Calla Wahlquist and Nick Evershed both have degrees in journalism, and Lorena Allam is The Guardian's Indigenous Affairs editor and has been a journalist and broadcaster for 30 years.
When evaluating the author's qualifications, consider the following:
Evaluate the publisher or sponsor. This is the company or organization who put the information out into the world by publishing the book or putting it on their website, etc. Alternatively, you can look at the publication itself. Usually this is done for magazines, journals, and newspapers, where the publication itself has a reputation for quality or bias, etc. In this example, the source is a newspaper article, so the student evaluates the publication (the newspaper), The Guardian. The following section the student will examine the bias of the newspaper.
Example: This article was published in the award-winning The Guardian newspaper.
When evaluating the publisher or sponsor, consider the following:
When evaluating the bias of a source, you should consider the bias of the author, publisher/publication, and the sources or evidence they use. Pretty much every source has a perspective or viewpoint on a topic, but bias becomes problematic when it begins to distort the facts or be too one-sided - it doesn't accurately report on the full picture. See our Bias guide to learn more. In this example, the student evaluates the newspaper, The Guardian, for any bias by visiting the website AllSides.com. This is a website that reports on the bias and accuracy of media like newspapers. It doesn't cover all types of sources, but it's a helpful tool for news and media sources.
Example: According to Allsides.com, The Guardian is typically considered “left leaning” on the political spectrum, but the site doesn’t raise any concerns about its accuracy.
When evaluating bias, consider the following:
When evaluating the publication date of the source, consider both how current it is and how much does currency matter for your topic? Some subjects need to be more current than others because they change very quickly. For example, current events and technology are outdated very quickly. Health information changes every few years, so we recommend looking for within the last five years or so. A historical event doesn't change much once it happens, so information about it would be useful much longer. In this example, the student notes that the article is a bit older but also explains why this is useful.
Example: This source is from 2018 and some of the information is from more than 30 years ago, but it shows the history of this issue and provides valuable background for an ongoing issue.
To evaluate the evidence or sources used by your author, examine what information they are using to support their points. Where is their information coming from? Is it high-quality information from reputable sources? They may list their sources at the end in a Works Cited, References, Footnotes, or Bibliography list, but many times, the author will mention throughout the text of the source where their information is coming from. In the example, the student identifies the specific types of sources referenced in the article and then summarizes what they find.
Example: The authors use credible sources as evidence, including prisoners’ perspectives, and cite authorities and experts to support their statements.
Consider the following:
After you evaluate the source, in the same paragraph, you should explain how and why you plan to use this source in your research paper. This is the final part of the annotation paragraph. Always double-check your paragraphs to make sure they have all three sections – summary, evaluation, and your use.
Example: I am going to use the information about the systemic failures of prisons over the past 10 years, as well as individual cases, to show how Australia’s prisons are neglecting prisoners' mental health issues resulting in unnecessary deaths.
After you have completed the first annotation, you immediately begin the second, starting with the citation for your second source. Remember the sources need to be in alphabetical order based on the MLA citation, and your citation must have a hanging indent. Each citation should have a hanging indent, but the paragraphs do not have an indent.
Example: Crissman, Belinda. “Deaths of People with Serious Mental Disorder: An Exploration of Deaths in Custody and Fatal Police Contacts.” Australian Journal of Social Issues, vol. 54, no. 3, Sept. 2019, pp. 245–66. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.1002/ajs4.70.
After the citation of each source, you will write your annotation paragraph. You will follow the same format as the first annotation - summary, evaluation, and how you'll use this source. Do this for each required source. However, each annotation will be a little different because each source is different. This example is using a peer-reviewed academic journal with expert authors, etc., so it will be different than our first source that was a newspaper article.
Example: In this article, the author found that people who suffered from a serious mental disorder were over-represented in reports of people who had died in custody. Actions recommended to prevent this included making staff aware of each prisoner’s risk factors, ensuring medications are taken, and keeping prisoners under close monitoring in rooms that are suicide safe. The author, Dr. Belinda Crissman, has a PhD in Clinical Psychology and has been a professor since 2015 in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Griffith University in Queensland, Australia, where her research focuses on mental health in correctional settings. Because of her education, research, and work experience, she is more than qualified to write on this topic. This article was published in the Australian Journal of Social Issues, which is a double-blind peer-reviewed journal covering significant social policy and social justice issues that have relevance to Australia. The article was published in 2019. Because it takes time to conduct and publish high-quality information from academic studies, this date is reasonable. It’s possible the author may hold some bias as a mental health advocate, but the paper bases its conclusions on statistics and data collected in the study. I will use this source to support my thesis and make recommendations because of its convincing statistics regarding mental health challenges in the prison population and its relevant discussion by an expert author in the field.
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