1. Hudson Valley Community College Marvin Library
Hudson Valley Community College Marvin Library Learning Commons
English 115
Creating an
Annotated Bibliography

2. Hudson Valley Community College
What is a bibliography?
Most research papers end with a bibliography--a list of sources you used in writing your paper.
Collect the information you’ll need for this Works Cited (MLS) or References (APA) page as you find your sources. This class will show you how to gather this information from our catalog and databases.
Citation makers like Easybib can help too—but they’re only as good as the information you give them. They often leave out dates and publishers.
Do you have a copy of the Bedford Handbook? It’s a requirement for many English classes at HVCC. It is not required for this class but it can be useful.

3. What is an Annotated Bibliography?
An annotated bibliography provides a list of sources that includes the information needed for finding the source (the citation) and an actual paragraph or two that describes what is in the source, who the authors were, and where they got their information (the annotation.) For each source, the citation tells the reader the title, author, date, publisher, etc and the annotation informs the reader of the relevance, accuracy, and quality of the source. Each annotation ( words or 3-7 sentences) is a descriptive and evaluative paragraph under the citation. The annotated bibliography is kept in order alphabetically by author.

4. APA or MLA Citation Styles:
APA stand for the American Psychological Association and is used for research papers in education and the social sciences. MLA stands for Modern Language Association and is used for research papers for literature and language classes.

5. Sample Annotated Bibliography--APA
This sample is from the Hacker Handbook.
Note this is page 3. A title page and a page for your thesis statement will be the first 2 pages.
Each citation is followed by an annotation. These are kept in alphabetical order by author or title if there is no author.
Citation
Annotation
APA requires the use of Times New Roman size 12 font.

6. Sample Annotated Bibliography--MLA
This sample is from the Hacker Handbook.
Note the heading, title, the MLA citation for the source, and the annotation.
The bibliography is arranged in alphabetical order by author.
Heading
Title
Citation
Annotation

7. Citation:
A citation contains the necessary information about a book, article, or web site so that a reader can find a reference used in a research article. It usually includes:
Author,
Title,
Year of Publication,
Publisher,
Place of Publication
The citation style (MLA or APA) determines the exact nature of what needs to be included.
For help with this, use the Cite your Sources page.

8. Hudson Valley Community College Marvin Library Web Page
This is the Dwight Marvin Library web site. Go to Cite Your Sources.

9. Hudson Valley Community College Marvin Library Web Page
Cite your Sources:
Click on your chosen citation style (MLA or APA).

10. Hudson Valley Community College Marvin Library Web Page
Find the Online help tab. Then find the YouTube tutorial for your format. Watch this to get your paper set up correctly.