Top 7 Examples of Annotated Bibliographies in APA Format
There are different types of writing that students have to complete in school. One type of writing is an annotated bibliography. Begin writing an annotated bibliography by first finding several sources on the topic. The sources should either be books or peer reviewed journal articles.
In an annotated bibliography, include at least five sources with a publication date from the last five years and one source from the past fifteen years, unless your assignment has contrary instructions. When you write an annotated bibliography, also include a topic/heading to describe what the annotated bibliography is about. Follow that with four to five sentences explaining why each specific source is relevant to the topic for your research project.
This article will show seven annotated bibliography examples formatted in APA style. Feel free to utilize them as templates when creating your own document!
Example 1 of an Annotated Bibliography in APA
Title page
Your name:
Instructors name:
Course number:
Date:
Topic: Pupils and Academics: The Impact of Motivation on Student Achievement
Citation 1: Lalonde, C., & Gardner, R. (1986). Effects of teacher expectations on pupil achievement. Education 85(2), 255-259.
Summary: In this study, Lalonde and Gardner investigate the existence of self-fulfilling prophecies in education by using a controlled experiment to study the effects of teacher expectations on student achievement.
Analysis: In each round of testing, students performed a set of tasks and were then graded by their teachers without knowing their actual performance level. The results demonstrated that when teachers held positive expectations for specific students, they tended to achieve better outcomes than expected based on their performance level in a given subject. The opposite occurred when teachers held negative expectations for some students.
Relevance: This article can be used to demonstrate through empirical evidence how teacher expectation can influence student achievement and will be hence useful in my research on pupils and academics.
Citation 2: Rosenthal, R., & Jacobson, L. (1968). Pygmalion in the classroom: Teacher expectations and pupils’ intellectual development. New York, NY: Holt Rinehart and Winston.
Short summary: In this study, Rosenthal and Jacobson present an experiment investigating the effects of teacher expectations on student achievement. To eliminate any external factors that could influence a teacher’s perception of a specific student, Rosenthal and Jacobson instructed teachers to give all students in their classes the same IQ test during the first few weeks of school. The results demonstrate that negative labels often lead to poorer academic performance from those labeled as such, while positive labels lead to better performance from those labeled as such.
Analysis: The results of this study provide readers with clear and strong empirical evidence that supports the existence of self-fulfilling prophecies in educational settings.
Relevance: This article can be used to demonstrate, through empirical evidence, how teacher expectation can influence student achievement, hence acts a good resource in my research.
Citation 3: Ryan, A., & Patrick, H. (1983) The classroom environment and students’ motivational orientation. Journal of Educational Psychology, 615-627.
Summary: Researchers investigate the relationship between students’ motivational orientation and their academic achievement. The results of this study provide empirical evidence that can assist readers in understanding how student motivation influences achievement.
Analysis: This article presents reliable statistical data supporting its claims on motivational orientation, which can benefit both educators and parents to understand student success in an educational setting.
Relevance: This study is relevant to the education community because it provides empirical evidence on how student motivation influences academic achievement, hence useful in my research topic.
Keep in mind that the headings in bold are for illustration purposes
Before we proceed!
Example 2 of an Annotated Bibliography in APA
Topic: How to Reduce Stress in College Students.
Citations 1: Russell, S., Proctor, E., & Bufka, L. (2000). Enhancing the well-being of college students through acceptance and commitment therapy. Journal of College Student Development, 614-621.
Summary: This article discusses how college students’ mental health can be improved by teaching acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). ACT is a form of psychotherapy that emphasizes accepting negative thoughts and feelings rather than fighting against them while also having the client focus on personal values to help motivate behavior. This study provides empirical evidence that ACT works to help college students reduce their stress levels.
Analysis: This article analyzes how ACT can be used for positive change in students’ mental health. It is relevant because it discusses the importance of embracing oneself and flaws, essential in living a healthy life, especially in an educational setting.
Relevance: This study is relevant because it discusses how ACT can help students reduce their stress and improve overall health.
Citation 2: Spence, S., & Robbins, A. (2012). Academic resilience in higher education: The development and preliminary validation of the Resilience Scale for Students. Higher Education Research and Development, 1-20.
Summary: This article discusses how college students’ resilience can be measured using the Resilience Scale for Students (RSS), an assessment tool that evaluates their mental health. The results of this study provide empirical evidence on how to measure students’ academic resilience.
Analysis: This article analyzes how to measure students’ academic resilience in educational settings, which can help educators and counselors better assist students who struggle with mental health. It is relevant because it discusses the importance of how teachers can improve their students’ academic success by evaluating their mental health.
Relevance: This Citation is relevant to this study because it discusses how to measure students’ academic resilience, which can help professors and college administrators support their students.
Citation 3: Presson, P., & Benassi, V. (2001). College students’ motivations for drinking and their subjective assessments of the effects of alcohol and the motives for drinking. Psychology and Health, 279-297.
Summary: This article discusses how college students’ motivations impact their decision to consume alcohol and whether they believe the decision to drink will benefit them or hurt them. The results of this study provide empirical evidence that can help readers understand why students drink and what motivates them to do so.
Analysis: This article explores whether students’ intentions and motivations behind drinking will lead to positive or negative results, providing readers with evidence of their behaviors and how college students perceive them. The study also analyzes the relationship between alcohol use and various student factors, such as gender and grade-point average (GPA), which makes it relevant.
Relevance: This source can be used in this topic by providing information on why students drink and the motivations behind their behavior. It is relevant because it discusses how college students are impacted by alcohol, which can affect their success in school and is also relevant to reducing stress.
Example 3 of an Annotated Bibliography in APA
Topic: Mental health in college
Citation 1: Nock, M., & Mendes, W. (2015). How depression impairs academic performance. Cambridge university press.
Summary: This book discusses how depression impacts college students’ success by hindering their cognitive processing and executive function, negatively impacting their grades. This study provides empirical evidence to help readers understand how depression creates challenges to students’ ability to perform well in college.
Analysis: This book analyzes the factors that may affect college students’ academic performance, like their motivation and executive function, based on research experiments. It is relevant because it discusses how depression can lead to poor academic performances, which can help professors and administrators better understand the impact of mental health on education.
Relevance: This Citation can be used in this topic because it analyzes how depression may affect students’ ability to perform well academically, which can benefit readers who want to improve their understanding of mental health in the college setting.
Citation 2: Chapman, C. (2016). Mental health on campus. Oxford University Press US.
Summary: This book discusses how college administrators can better aid their students who struggle with mental health through services provided by the institution, which includes counselling and other medical recitations available. The results of this study provide empirical evidence that can help readers understand ways to improve their own school’s mental health services.
Analysis: This book analyzes how institutions provide adequate care for students with mental health issues, including medical professionals and universities’ academic support systems. It is relevant because it discusses how to improve students’ personal experiences with mental health at their school, which can benefit readers looking for ways to improve their mental health services.
Relevance: This source can be used in this topic by providing information on how to better support students with mental health issues, which benefits readers looking for ways to help their students’ academic performance.
Example 4 of an Annotated Bibliography in APA
Topic: Effects of Social Media on Performance and Obesity Rates of College Students
Citation 1: Milner, S. (2016). Social media and academic performance. IGI global publishers.
Summary: This book analyzes how social media use hurts students’ grades because it distracts them from their academics and provides a false reality of success that may impact their motivation to work hard. This study provides empirical evidence to help readers understand how to improve their academic performance by reducing social media usage.
Analysis: This book analyzes the types of distractions that social media poses for college students, like online bullying and cyber-stalking. It is relevant because it discusses how to decrease the negative impact of social media on an individual’s academic performance, which benefits readers who want to improve their college environment.
Relevance: This book can be used in this topic by providing information on how social media use impacts students’ grades and motivation, which can help readers reduce their own social media usage to better focus on academics.
Citation 2: Gosling, S., Sandy, C., & Potter, J. (2014). The sugar habit. Yale University Press.
Summary: This book analyzes how the sugary foods that are constantly available through vending machines and other means on college campuses can contribute to students becoming obese due to their poor diets. The results of this study provide empirical evidence that can help readers understand how to improve their own school’s health services.
Analysis: This book analyzes the different factors contributing to students’ poor eating habits, like social media and easy access to processed food, which can serve as alternatives to healthier foods on campus. It is relevant because it discusses how sugar consumption contributes to obesity, which benefits readers who want to decrease their students’ obesity rates.
Relevance: This Citation can be used in this topic by providing information on the effects of sugary food consumption, which benefits readers looking for ways to improve their own school’s health services.
Example 5 of an Annotated Bibliography in APA
Topic: Best Suicide Prevention Strategies for College Students
Citation 1: Johnson, S. (2015). College success strategies. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
Summary: This book analyzes how students can support their peers who may be experiencing suicidal thoughts because it provides encouragement and advice about the best ways to prevent suicide, which can help readers who are looking for ways to support their students better.
Analysis: This book analyzes the different types of support that peers can provide to prevent suicide, which benefits readers looking for examples of how they can better help their students.
Relevance: This book can be used in this topic by providing information on recognizing and preventing suicide because it benefits readers who want ways to help their students.
Citation 2: Lewandowski, L., & Hensley, E. (2015). The handbook of college mental health counselling. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
Summary: This book analyzes the different warning signs of suicide that students can look out for in their peers because it provides detailed information about how to recognize these signs and what steps to take if they notice them, which benefits readers who want to learn more about the warning signs.
Analysis: This book analyzes different mental illnesses that contribute to suicidal thoughts, like depression, which benefits readers who want to learn more about the factors that can increase suicide risk.
Relevance: This book can be used in this topic by providing information on recognizing and preventing suicide because it benefits readers looking for ways to help their students better.
Citation 3: Mazza, N. (2015). College student mental health. New York: Nova Science.
Summary: This book analyzes the best ways to prevent suicide because it provides detailed information about different mental illnesses and how they can affect students, which benefits readers who want to learn more about factors contributing to suicide.
Analysis: This book analyzes the different warning signs of suicide that students can look out for in their peers because it provides detailed information about how to recognize these signs and what steps to take if they notice them, which benefits readers who want to learn more about the warning signs.
Relevance: This Citation can be used in this topic by providing information on how to recognize and prevent suicide because it is relevant for readers looking for ways to help their students better.
Example 6 of an Annotated Bibliographies in APA
Topic: How to Stop Bullying Among College Students
Citation 1: Mary W. Gray, K. E., Mayall, A., & Salisbury, J. S. (2004). School counsellors’ interventions with bullying behavior. Professional School Counseling, 7(3), 205-211.
Summary: This journal article analyzes how school counselors can help their students who are being bullied by using a problem-solving approach, which benefits readers who want to learn how to help their students better.
Analysis: This journal article analyzes the different strategies school counselors use to address bullying, which benefits readers who want to learn multiple strategies that support their work with this issue.
Relevance: The source can be used in this topic because the author discusses ways that school counselors can better help their students who are being bullied.
Citation 2: Reid, B., & Storch, E. A. (2015). Assessing bullying victimization of students with disabilities. Journal of the American Academy of Special Education Professionals, 47(2), 96-104.
Summary: This journal article analyzes how school counselors can assess if their students who have disabilities are being bullied because it provides examples of the questions they should ask, which benefits readers who want to learn how they can better recognize this issue.
Analysis: This journal article analyzes what factors place students at a higher risk for bullying, which benefits readers who want to know different factors that affect this issue.
Relevance: This Citation is relevant to this research paper because it analyzes how school counselors can help their students who are being bullied by using a problem-solving approach, which benefits readers who want to learn how they can better help their students.
Citation 3: Ybarra, M. L., Diener-West, M., & Leaf, P. J. (2007). Assessing the overlap between Internet bullying and school bullying: Implications for school intervention. Journal of Adolescent Health, 40(5), 21.
Summary: This journal article analyzes how school counselors can better help students who are victims of cyberbullying, which benefits readers who want to learn about factors contributing to this issue.
Analysis: This journal article analyzes what factors place students at a higher risk for bullying, which benefits readers who want to know different factors that affect this issue.
Relevance: This source is relevant to this research paper because it analyzes how school counselors can help their students who are being bullied by using a problem-solving approach, which benefits readers who want to learn how they can better help their students.
Example 7 of an Annotated Bibliography in APA
Topic: Career Development Theory
Citation 1: Schreuder, M., & Coetzee, S. (2014). Career self-efficacy and academic performance. South African Journal of Education, 34(1), Art. #992, 8 pages. http://dx.doi.org/10.15700/saje.v34n1a992.
Summary: This article analyzes the relationships between academic performance and career self-efficacy in an undergraduate and graduate student sample. It reports on research that examines how students’ career self-efficacy beliefs affect their academic performance, which benefits readers who want to learn more about this topic.
Analysis: The authors examine the link between career development theory and academic performance, which benefits readers who want to learn more about how these two areas of study are related.
Relevance: This Citation can be used in this topic because the article analyzes the connection between career development theory and academic success.
Citation 2: Swanson, H. L., & Gore, J. L. (2011). Career decision-making self-efficacy: Relationship with academic performance in college students. Journal of Career Assessment, 19(4), 515-529. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1069072710386757.
Summary: This journal article analyzes the relationship between career decision-making self-efficacy and academic performance in college students. It examines how different educational backgrounds affect their achievement, which benefits readers who want to learn more about this connection.
Analysis: The authors examine the relationship between career decision-making self-efficacy and academic performance, which benefits readers looking for examples to use in this topic.
Relevance: This Citation can be used in this topic because the article analyzes how different educational backgrounds affect academic success.
Citation 3: Swanson, H., & Gore, J. (2011). Career decision-making self-efficacy and undergraduate students’ academic performance. Journal of Career Development, 38(2), 93-108. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0894845310385863.
Summary: This journal article analyzes the link between career decision-making self-efficacy and academic performance in college students, which benefits readers who want to learn more about this connection.
Analysis: The authors examine how students’ perception of their abilities affects their academic performance, which benefits readers looking for examples to use in this topic.
Relevance: This source can be used in this academic writing paper because the article analyzes how different factors affect academic success.
What is the Purpose of APA Annotation Bibliographies?
APA annotated bibliographies provide a comprehensive list of resources that are used in the research paper. Annotation includes a summary of a cited source and an evaluation of the relevance and quality of the source to the topic under investigation.
Creating an Annotated Bibliography
Creating an annotated bibliography requires the researcher to both summarize and analyze the material that is being referenced. Annotations should contain a summary of each source and then a critique of the validity and reliability. Sources for this resource list must be cited in the text when used, not just at the end of your paper.
- Use short phrases in your annotations to keep sentences short and concise.
- Write an annotation for each resource in your reference list.
APA Annotated Bibliography Format
Formatting annotated bibliography uses the same format as reference list entries or any APA paper.
The title should be centered.
Do not indent the first line of your bibliography. However, the second and subsequent lines should have a hanging indent of 5 spaces from the left margin. Do this to the entire annotation list.
- Font: Times New Roman or Arial
- Page Number: Right-aligned ½ inch down
- Font Size: 12
- Page margins: 1 (one) inch throughout
- The entire annotation should be double spaced
- Write citation notes on a new paragraph below the reference entry and indented 0.5 inches from the left margin.
- List bibliography entries in alphabetical order
- End your bibliography with a period.
What is the Difference Between Literature Review and Abstract Annotation?
Both abstract annotations and literature reviews provide a concise summary of the content. However, a literature review provides a comprehensive overview of the current research on a topic, whereas an annotated bibliography provides a critical evaluation of few sources used within an assignment.
Is There a Tool I Can Use to Generate Annotated Bibliography?
There is also software available to assist with APA annotation. The annotated bibliography generator will organize the annotations in the APA format while allowing you to change what information is being presented. One such program, Papyrus, allows you to annotate sources while recording both the page range referenced and chapter titles mentioned within them.
Many tools are available to help with APA annotation, including websites that can do it automatically or programs that can help organize the annotations themselves and the references. Search APA style and citation 7th edition for more information.
Use the American Psychological Association (7th Edition) publication manual to learn more about formatting a reference list in APA.
Also, our top writers can do it for you!
Summary
Feel free to use these annotated bibliography examples to help you format your own research project. Visit the Purdue OWL (Online Writing Lab) for additional resources and use their APA citation generator.
Here is the URL: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/08/
You may also use the American Psychological Association (7th Edition) publication manual to learn more about how to format a reference list in APA for your own work.
I‘m a freelance content and SEO writer with a passion for finding the perfect combination of words to capture attention and express a message. I create catchy, SEO-friendly content for websites, blogs, articles, and social media. My experience spans many industries, including health and wellness, technology, education, business, and lifestyle. My clients appreciate my ability to craft compelling stories that engage their target audience, but also help to improve their website’s search engine rankings. I’m also an avid learner and stay up to date on the latest SEO trends. I enjoy exploring new places and reading up on the latest marketing and SEO strategies in my free time.