apa annotated biblography

apa annotated biblography

The Importance of APA Annotated Bibliography

1. Introduction

The APA style of citation is most commonly used to write papers and cite sources within the social sciences. This style is different from other types of annotated bibliographies as each annotation is followed by a short paragraph of about 5 to 7 sentences. This provides more detailed information on the findings of the source and the relevance to the research. This type of annotated bibliography is more commonly used in social science-related research and writing. An annotated bibliography in APA style helps the writer to understand the background and relevance of the sources cited as well as providing a brief analysis of the source, usually the information which would be covered in a research paper. For the purpose of this assignment, the APA style and the relevance of the APA style to someone writing a psychology research paper will be of special consideration.

This paper considers the importance of creating an APA annotated bibliography. An annotated bibliography is a list of citations of books, articles, and documents. Each citation is followed by a brief (usually about 150 words) descriptive and evaluative paragraph, the annotation. Evaluative means that the annotation should give the reader an immediate impression of the relevance, accuracy, and quality of the source cited. The basic purpose of an annotation is to inform the reader as to the relevance and quality of the sources cited. It is important because it can be used as an index to a large research source. This allows the researcher to establish the relevance of the sources cited to their specific area of research and weed out those which lack relevance. This can save an enormous amount of time sifting through irrelevant sources when writing a research paper. An annotated bibliography can also be used as a source of learning for a topic as it is often to write a short descriptive analysis of the findings of a research paper or article. An annotated bibliography can be required for a number assignment at university.

2. Understanding APA Annotated Bibliography

The citation should be formatted in the bibliographic style that your professor has requested for the assignment. Some common styles include MLA, APA, and Chicago. For more information, see the Style Guides page. The annotation is a concise description of a particular source, including important aspects of content not evident in the title. It enables the researcher to establish the relevance of a specific journal article, book, research report, or government document, etc., and to decide whether to actually read the full text of the source.

Simply defined, an annotated bibliography is a list of sources with brief comments on each source. An annotated bibliography or annotated bib is a bibliography (a list of books or other works) that includes descriptive and evaluative comments about the sources cited in your paper. These comments are also known as annotations. An annotated bibliography entry consists of two components: the citation and the annotation.

3. Benefits of Using APA Annotated Bibliography

The greatest benefit of using APA annotated bibliography is that it helps the students to establish the credibility of the sources. This can be extremely helpful for the students because they are often found reading and referring to different sources of varying degree of credibility, and this can be quite confusing for them. The guidelines provided by the American Psychological Association will help the students know if the source is credible and if it is, this will reflect on their grades. Credible sources is also an important criteria for earning a good grade in the assignment. The other benefit of using APA annotated bibliography is that the students can be certain that they are not plagiarizing their content. The guidelines provided by the American Psychological Association helps the students know how to properly cite and reference the work. It also tells the students what the authors of the sources have said so that they can paraphrase it into their own words. This is extremely beneficial to the students since copying content and not providing proper citation can result in the work being disqualified or the student being expelled from the course. Annotated bibliography can also ensure that the students avoid the trap of accidental plagiarism. Often students will forget to put a citation in their work, or miss a paragraph that they wanted to put into their own words, with the annotated bibliography the students can hold the source in one hand and their assignment in the other and be sure that they have not missed anything.

4. How to Create an Effective APA Annotated Bibliography

An annotation should summarize the central idea of the work. The most valuable element in an APA style annotated bibliography is the work summary. If you are writing an annotated bibliography for a specific author’s articles, you will have the chance to write book reviews. The purpose of the summary is to give information about the work, including the author’s purpose and problems, what the author conveys to the reader, the target audience, and the usefulness of the work. The annotation of the source must be no less than 150 and no more than 200 words. The writing must be clear and well-written. In an annotation, it is useful to begin by looking at the work as a whole, including the author’s point and the context of the article. Then, you can analyze the article more closely, providing a description and analysis of the work. Finally, you can conclude the article with a short review. Afterward, you should consider the usefulness of the work and identify the target audience. Conclude by mentioning the date and source URL if available. Keep in mind that an annotation is not the same as a proposal.

5. Conclusion

In conclusion, creating an APA annotated bibliography can be a valuable way to write an overview of the literature on an academic subject. It is the rare kind of student paper (Pecorari, 2000). What is the academic value of an annotated bibliography? In some cases, a university professor may ask for an annotated bibliography before you begin a research paper, with the intention of demonstrating the depth and quality of the research on the topic. In other cases, an annotated bibliography may be an entire paper in and of itself. An annotated bibliography can also stand alone as a survey of the literature on a particular subject. With this said, whether an annotated bibliography is right for a particular assignment, an integral part of the learning process is knowing what kind of methods are most effective in learning about a particular subject. By comparing and contrasting varying types of sources on the subject, it stimulates one’s critical thinking on the subject. A key step to writing a good annotated bibliography is to be a discriminating reader. With practice one can develop the skill of skimming a document and identifying whether it is of vital importance to the research. Last but not least, in today’s information age it is imperative that a student learns how to conduct effective research and determine what is a valid academic source. An annotated bibliography compels one to put to use these invaluable information seeking skills and this alone makes the time invested in writing it worthwhile. APA is the style of documentation of sources used by the American Psychological Association. This form of writing can be a useful tool for the educator. With the use of a global teaching tool such as the internet, many students come from other countries to study at English speaking institutions. They are often unfamiliar with proper English writing techniques or are unsure of the standard that is expected in an English research paper. Mostly older students have a hard time adapting to modern technology. With the use of Google translate they may retrieve information in English and mistakenly use a translation of an article into their native language. Annotated bibliographies written in APA format should have a correct citation and a short summative piece, which informs the reader of the larger work’s content. This summation is quite useful for those who are unfamiliar with the English language and it can also serve to help the older students who are not technology-minded. In all, it is a useful exercise, one that is beneficial to a student not only in honing valuable research skills but a skill, which is of the essence in traversing an information-based society.