Annotated bibliography: [Topic]

[Your name] · [Course] · [Instructor] · [Date]

How to use this template

  1. Write one entry per source: its full reference, then a single annotation paragraph.

  2. An annotation does three things. It summarizes the source (the main claim, the evidence and the scope, in two or three sentences), evaluates it (how strong the evidence is, the author's standing, any gap or bias) and says how you will use it.

  3. Keep the entries in alphabetical order by the first author's surname, within each theme. Themes are optional: if your instructor wants one list, delete the theme headings.

  4. A journal article in APA 7: Surname, A. A. (Year). Title of the article. Journal Name, volume(issue), pages. https://doi.org/… In MLA 9: Surname, First Name. “Title of the Article.” Journal Name, vol. 0, no. 0, Year, pp. 00–00.

  5. Before you submit, go through the checklist at the end, then delete it with this box, the example and the reading tracker.

Introduction

Only if your assignment asks for one.

[Theme 1]

Each entry: the reference, then one annotation paragraph.

See an example entry

Okafor, T. (2021). Remote work and team trust. Journal of Organizational Studies, 42(3), 210–228.

Okafor surveyed 480 employees in six firms over twelve months and found that trust within teams fell when they met less than once a week, whether in person or by video. The sample is large and the trust scale is a validated one, but every firm was in professional services and in one country, so the result may not hold for other kinds of work. I use it in section 2 to support my argument that how often a team meets matters more than how it meets, and set it against Lindqvist (2019), who found the opposite on factory floors.

What each sentence does: the first summarizes (who was studied, how, and what was found), the second evaluates (the strength of the method and its limits), the third says what the source does for the project. The source is invented.

[Theme 2]

Optional: Reading tracker

A row per source as you read, so you can see which ones earn a place before you write their annotations.

Source

Main claim

Evidence

Limits

Use

Before you submit

  • Every entry has a full reference in one citation style, and the entries are alphabetical by the first author's surname (within each theme, if you use themes)

  • Every annotation evaluates its source as well as summarizing it, and says how you use it

  • Each annotation fits the length your assignment sets; 100 to 200 words is common

  • After exporting to Word: the references have a hanging indent, the annotations are indented as your assignment asks (if it doesn't say, 0.5 in. for APA and 1 in. for MLA is usual), and the whole list is double-spaced

  • The theme headings are renamed or deleted, and the grey hints are gone

  • The how-to box, the example, the reading tracker and this checklist are deleted