{"id":5702,"date":"2026-03-26T15:57:19","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T20:57:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eastcentral.edu\/learning-center\/?page_id=5702"},"modified":"2026-03-26T15:58:23","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T20:58:23","slug":"writing-an-annotated-bibliography","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.eastcentral.edu\/learning-center\/writing-an-annotated-bibliography\/","title":{"rendered":"Writing an Annotated Bibliography"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Writing an annotated bibliography helps you to create proper references, evaluate your sources, and make sure you have everything you need before you write your paper. Once you have an annotated bibliography, writing the paper is much easier. Each source in an annotated bibliography has three main elements: the reference, the summary, and the commentary. The commentary is comprised of an evaluation and a reflection. This is how you write an annotated bibliography:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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STEP 1:<\/strong> Devise your research question. What exactly do you want to know about your subject? This will help you to narrow your research. Next, conduct your research to find answers to your question.<\/p>\n

STEP 2:<\/strong> Create APA (or other citation style, depending on instructor preference) references for your sources. If you are having difficulty with your references, try the citation tool in most databases or the APA Style Blog (https:\/\/apastyle.apa.org\/blog\/<\/a>). Here is a sample reference for an online journal article:<\/p>\n

Jerrentrup, A., Mueller, T., Glowalla, U., Herder, M., Henrichs, N., Neubauer, A.,<\/p>\n

& Schaefer, J. R. (2018). Teaching medicine with the help of \u201cDr. House.\u201d<\/p>\n

PLoS ONE, 13(3), Article e0193972. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0193972<\/a><\/p>\n

STEP 3:<\/strong> Place your sources in alphabetical order by the author\u2019s last name.<\/p>\n

STEP 4:<\/strong> Summarize each of your sources. To do this, first check the length of your source. If your source is short, put the sentences together and revise so your paragraph is clear and concise. If your source is long, do the same thing, but for sections or groups of paragraphs. With these methods, you should arrive at a solid\u00a0summary that communicates the main ideas without unnecessary details.
Here are some additional things to keep in mind:<\/p>\n