28 Formatting Your Annotated Bibliography

Learning Objectives

  • Gain an awareness and understanding of various contexts for their chosen field of study and its associated professions
  • Evaluate relevant information based on selected validity criteria

 

Formatting Your Annotated Bibliography

Due Dates, Organization, & Format

  • The annotated bibliography will be due in two parts: Professional Organizations and Social Media the first week, and Information Resources in the second week.
  • You must submit the annotated bibliography for both parts in order to be eligible for full credit.
  • You will work in one document and submit the same document for grading as each section is completed.
  • Each section will include bibliographic entries formatted according to the style guide for your field of study (APA, MLA, or Chicago), including a hanging indentation.

Feel free to use a citation generator, such as this one from the library at the University of North Carolina. Each bibliographic entry will have an accompanying short paragraph of annotation. Within each section, the bibliographic entries will be arranged in alphabetical order by the first word of the entry.

The final version of your Annotated Bibliography will be graded using the rubric found in the Course Resources page in your Canvas course site. A sample of the completed Annotated Bibliography can be found here.

Guidelines for Setting Up Your Annotated Bibliography Document:

Create a new document using your word processing program. Set up the following headings:

  • Introduction
  • Professional or Scholarly Organizations (depending on your field of study)
  • Social Media
  • Information Resources

 Content

Each annotation will include the following information written in paragraph form using complete sentences:

  • the purpose of the resource,
  • the audience for the resource (who is it intended to help),
  • a summary of the resource’s content or services,
  • the resource’s relevance for someone at your stage of academic or professional development,
  • how well the resource meets the criteria on our validity checklist,
  • whether or not you recommend the resource.
  • Other information specific to each heading will be listed in the corresponding chapters.

Assignment Guidelines: Writing the Introduction to Your Annotated Bibliography:

Write a brief introduction to provide contextual information for your readers so that they will know they have come to the right place. Your introduction should answer the following questions: What is the purpose of your annotated bibliography? Will you be providing evaluative as well as descriptive information? What stage of academic and professional development are the resources intended to support?

APA Reference Guide

The following information should provide reference for citing most of the common sources used in the Annotated Bibliography. All information comes from American Psychological Association (2019, September) https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references

You may encounter other sources as you explore trends in your field, so you’ll want to consult the following website or our librarian with questions:https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references

Basic Principles of Reference List Entries: A reference list entry generally has four elements: the author, date, title, and source. Each element answers a question:

  • author: Who is responsible for this work?
  • date: When was this work published?
  • title: What is this work called?
  • source: Where can I retrieve this work?

Answering these four questions will help you create a reference entry for any type of work, even if you do not see a specific example in the Publication Manual that matches it. Consistency in reference formatting allows readers to understand the types of works you consulted and the important reference elements with ease.

To learn more about content and format of the author, date, title, and source, visit the page on reference elements.

 

General Reference Examples: https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/examples

Webpage on a website with an organizational group author

  • Reference format: Organization name. (date last updated). Title of webpage. URL.

Example: World Health Organization. (2018, May 24). The top 10 causes of death. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/the-top-10-causes-of-death

  • Parenthetical citation: (World Health Organization, 2018)
  • Narrative citation: World Health Organization (2018)
  • For a page from an organization’s website without individual authors, use the name of the organization as the author.
  • Provide as specific a date as possible for the webpage.
  • Some online works note when the work was last updated. If this date is clearly attributable to the specific content you are citing rather than the overall website, use the updated date in the reference.
  • Do not include a date of last review in a reference because content that has been reviewed has not necessarily been changed. If a date of last review is noted on a work, ignore it for the purposes of the reference.
  • Italicize the title of the webpage.
  • Because the author of the webpage and the site name are the same, omit the site name from the source element to avoid repetition.
  • End the reference with the URL.

Facebook page

  • Reference format: Organization name (date, if possible). Title [Facebook page]. Facebook. Retrieved date from URL

Example: Community of Multiculturalism. (n.d.). Home [Facebook page]. Facebook. Retrieved October 14, 2020, from https://www.facebook.com/communityofmulticulturalism/

  • Parenthetical citation: (Community of Multiculturalism, n.d.)
  • Narrative citation: Community of Multiculturalism (n.d.)
  • Use the page title in the reference (e.g., “Home,” “About,” “Reviews”). Italicize the page title.
  • Include the notation “[Facebook page]” in square brackets.
  • Provide a retrieval date because the content is designed to change over time and is not archived.
  • Provide the URL of the page.

“X” (formerly Twitter) profile

Parenthetical citations: (APA Databases, 2020; CDC, 2020; Gates, 2019; Prevention Institute, 2020)

Narrative citations: APA Databases (2020), CDC (2020), Gates (2019), and Prevention Institute (2020)

  • Present the name of the individual or group author the same as you would for any other reference. Then provide the X handle (beginning with the @ sign) in square brackets, followed by a period.
  • In the case of a group identified by an abbreviation (as with the CDC example), use the group name as shown on the work, to aid in retrieval.
  • Provide the specific date of the post.
  • Provide the first 20 words of the post as the title, in italics. Count a URL, a hashtag, or an emoji as one word each, and include them in the reference if they fall within the first 20 words. Do not italicize emojis.
  • If the post includes an image, a video, a poll, or a thumbnail image with a link, indicate that in square brackets after the title: [Image attached], [Video attached], [Thumbnail with link attached].
  • Include the description “[Post]” in square brackets after the title.
  • Credit X as the site name in the source element and then provide the URL of the post.
  • The format used for X is also used for Instagram and TikTok.

YouTube video

  • Reference format: Name. (date last updated). Title. [Video]. YouTube. URL

Example: Asian Boss. (2020, June 5). World’s leading vaccine expert fact-checks COVID-19 vaccine conspiracy: Stay curious #22 [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com /watch?v=WQdLDMLrYIA

Harvard University. (2019, August 28). Soft robotic gripper for jellyfish [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guRoWTYfxMs

  • Parenthetical citations: (Asian Boss, 2020; Harvard University, 2019)
  • Narrative citations: Asian Boss (2020) and Harvard University (2019)
  • Use the name of the account that uploaded the video as the author.
  • If the account did not actually create the work, explain this in the text if it is important for readers to know. However, if that would mean citing a source that appears unauthoritative, you might also look for the author’s YouTube channel, official website, or other social media to see whether the same video is available elsewhere.
  • To cite the words of individuals featured in a video, name or describe the individual(s) in your sentence in the text and then provide a parenthetical citation for the video. For example, the Asian Boss video is an interview with the director general of the International Vaccine Institute; you should provide details about who spoke and what they said in the text of the sentence and then cite the video using the parenthetical citation shown.
  • Provide the specific date on which the video was uploaded.
  • Italicize the title of the video.
  • Include the description “[Video]” in square brackets after the title.
  • Provide the site name (YouTube) and URL of the video.

YouTube channel

  • Reference format: Name. (date last updated). Title [YouTube channel]. Retrieved date, from URL

Example: APA Publishing Training. (n.d.). Home [YouTube channel]. Retrieved February 20, 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/user/PsycINFO/

Walker, A. (n.d.). Playlists [YouTube channel]. YouTube. Retrieved October 8, 2019, from https://www.youtube.com/user/DjWalkzz/playlists

  • Parenthetical citations: (APA Publishing Training, n.d.; Walker, n.d.)
  • Narrative citations: APA Publishing Training (n.d.) and Walker (n.d.)
  • YouTube channel pages begin on the “Home” tab by default. If you want to cite one of the other tabs (e.g., “Videos,” “Playlists”), use the name of that tab rather than “Home” in the title element of the reference (as in the Walker example).
  • Italicize the title of the channel.
  • Include the description “[YouTube channel]” in square brackets after the title.
  • Provide a retrieval date because the content is designed to change over time and is not archived.

LinkedIn post

  • Reference format: Organization name. (date last updated. Year, Month, Day). Title of Page. [Post]. LinkedIn. URL

Example: American Psychological Association. (2019, December 9). Last month, APA joined more than 40 national and international psychology organizations to explore ways to collaborate and use psychological [Thumbnail with link attached] [Post]. LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/american-psychological-association_how-psychologists-are-combating-climate-change-activity-6609801161937612800-GvdC

Goodwin, J. (2019, September). The best part of attending the American Psychological Association’s 2019 Convention in Chicago this year was having the opportunity to [Image attached] [Post]. LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jongoodwin3_apa2019-activity-6569581103441682432-CN98

  • Parenthetical citations: (American Psychological Association, 2019; Goodwin, 2019)
  • Narrative citations: American Psychological Association (2019) and Goodwin (2019)
  • Use the name associated with the account as the name in the reference.
  • LinkedIn does not provide exact dates for posts; rather, it tells users how long ago the post was made. Use the date information provided on the post to infer as specific a date as possible for the reference.
  • Provide the first 20 words of the post as the title. Count a URL or other link, a hashtag, or an emoji as one word each, and include them in the reference if they fall within the first 20 words. Do not italicize emojis.
  • If a post includes images, videos, thumbnail links to outside sources, or content from another post (such as when sharing a link), indicate that in square brackets after the title.
  • Describe the post type (e.g., “[Post],” “[Video]”) in square brackets after any description of attached content.
  • Credit LinkedIn as the site name in the source element and then provide the URL of the post.

LinkedIn profile

  • Reference format: Name. (date). Title. [LinkedIn page]. LinkedIn. Retrieved date, from URL

Example: John Tyler Community College. (n.d.). Home [LinkedIn page]. LinkedIn. Retrieved January 9, 2020, from https://www.linkedin.com/school/john-tyler-community-college/

  • Parenthetical citation: (John Tyler Community College, n.d.)
  • Narrative citation: John Tyler Community College (n.d.)
  • Use the page title in the reference (e.g., “Home,” “About,” “Jobs”).
  • Include the notation “[LinkedIn page]” in square brackets after the title.
  • Provide a retrieval date because the content is designed to change over time and is not archived.
  • Provide the URL of the page.

Blog post

  • Reference format: Name. (date last updated). Title. Publication or Journal if applicable. URL

Example: Ouellette, J. (2019, November 15). Physicists capture first footage of quantum knots unraveling in superfluid. Ars Technica. https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/11/study-you-can-tie-a-quantum-knot-in-a-superfluid-but-it-will-soon-untie-itself/

  • Parenthetical citation: (Ouellette, 2019)
  • Narrative citation: Ouellette (2019)
  • Blog posts follow the same format as journal articles.
  • Italicize the name of the blog, the same as you would a journal title.

Journal article

  • Reference format: author(s). (date). title. Publication Title. Volume. Pages. DOI or URL

Example: Grady, J. S., Her, M., Moreno, G., Perez, C., & Yelinek, J. (2019). Emotions in storybooks: A comparison of storybooks that represent ethnic and racial groups in the United States. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 8(3), 207–217. https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000185

  • Parenthetical citation: (Grady et al., 2019)
  • Narrative citation: Grady et al. (2019)
  • If a journal article has a DOI, include the DOI in the reference.
  • Always include the issue number for a journal article.
  • If the journal article does not have a DOI and is from an academic research database, end the reference after the page range (for an explanation of why, see the database information page). The reference in this case is the same as for a print journal article.
  • Do not include database information in the reference unless the journal article comes from a database that publishes works of limited circulation or original, proprietary content, such as UpToDate.
  • If the journal article does not have a DOI but does have a URL that will resolve for readers (e.g., it is from an online journal that is not part of a database), include the URL of the article at the end of the reference.

 

Example of a Bibliographic Entry Formatted with a Hanging Indentation

To create a hanging indentation for a bibliographic entry, go to Help in your word processing program and search for “hanging indentation.” This is what the set-up would look like in MS Word, for example:

Potential Snag: Some word processing programs, such as Google Docs, don’t have a specific option to create a hanging indentation. You should be able to find a work-around with an online search.

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