Used with permission from Pollak Library, California State University, Fullerton, CA. The Research Process - Citing Sources.
An annotated bibliography is a list of citations followed by a descriptive summary and evaluation. Sometimes the annotation will reflect the applicability of the source to the needs of the researcher. The purpose of this type of bibliography is to inform the reader of the relevance, accuracy, and quality of the sources cited.
Example:
Gurko, Leo. Ernest Hemingway and the Pursuit of Heroism.
New York: Crowell, 1968. This book is part of a series called
"Twentieth Century American Writers": a Brief Introduction to the Man
and his Work. After fifty pages of straight biography, Gurko discussed
Hemingway's writing, novel by novel. There's an index and a short
bibliography, but no notes. The biographical part is clear and easy to
read, but it sounds too much like a summary.
Example borrowed from the Writing Center at UNC- Chapel Hill.