An Annotated Bibliography is a list of citations to articles and other sources. Each citation is followed by a brief descriptive and evaluative paragraph, the annotation. Your annotations should follow a citation, annotation, then repeat format.
For each article, your annotation should be one paragraph that includes the following:
- Summarize the information about the topic: What was the topic? Why was the research important?
- Summarize the methods used in this study: How was the research done? What methods, tests, and statistical analyses were used?
- Describe the participants used in this study: What were the characteristics of the populations studied? For example, were particular age groups or genders studied?
- Summarize the findings of the study: What did the authors find? Did the authors discuss the implications of their research?
- State whether the study is of use for your project and why: Was this source helpful to you? How has it helped you develop your hypothesis? How has it helped you build your project proposal? Would you use its methodologies, tests, or statistical analyses for your own experiment? How will you apply the source’s theoretical positions, issues discussed, study data, and claims made to build your arguments and justifications for your own experiment?
Use this Annotated Bibliography example from the UNC Chapel Hill for more help putting together your Annotated Bibliography in APA Style.