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Annotated Bibliography: Write an annotated bibliography

Learn how to write and format an annotated bibliography

General structure

The description below provides a general overview of how your annotated bibliography may look. Check with your instructor for specific guidelines regarding your assignment.

  • Reference:
  1. provide the reference for each source in a specific citation style. At YukonU, APA is the most common citation style, but other styles may be required by your instructor.
  2. Unless otherwise noted in your assignment, your annotated bibliography should be in alphabetical order by author.
  • Enter your annotation.
  1. The annotation is a new paragraph below its reference and follows block quotation format.
  2. Should the annotation have multiple paragraphs, the first line of the second and subsequent paragraphs are indented an additional 0.5in.

When writing your annotation, consider doing some of the following:

  • Summary: provide a brief description about the source, focusing on its goals, most important points, and conclusions (if any). If summarizing a literary work, provide a brief description about the story and main characters.

  • Assessment and your reflection: provide some analysis on the author (who is it? Is she/he an expert?), style, what types of methods were used in the study (if any), the presence or potential biases or gaps, and reliability of the source.

Sample in APA 7th ed. (from APA manual)

Barber, L. K., Grawitch, M. J., & Maloney, P. W. (2016). Work-life balance: Contemporary perspectives. In M. J. Grawitch & D. W. Ballard (Eds.), The psychologically healthy workplace: Building a win-win environment for organizations and employees (p. 111–133). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/14731-006

This book chapter provides an overview of the psychosociological concept of work-life balance. The authors discuss findings from studies showing harmful effects of work-life conflict on psychological and behavioral health as well as beneficial effects of work-life facilitation, wherein one role makes a positive contribution to the other. The chapter concludes with a description of work-life balance initiatives that organizations have adopted to help employees manage their dual work and nonwork obligations and some of the key factors influencing their effectiveness.