Skip to Main Content

APA - Referencing Guide

Annotated Bibliography Writing

Guidelines for Writing Annotated Bibliographies

• This page has guidelines for writing an annotated bibliography - not citing an annotated bibliography.

• Follow the citation format guidelines for each format type if citing an annotated bibliography.

Formatting

References

Annotations

  • start annotation in a new paragraph below each reference
  • indent annotation 1.5cm from left margin
  • do not further indent the first line of the annotation
    • if annotation is longer than 1 paragraph, indent the first line of the second and subsequent paragraphs

 

Sample Annotated Bibliography

 

Aquatic Microplastic Pollution: Annotated Bibliography

 

Andrady, A., & Zhu, L. (2021). Microplastics as pollutants in the marine environment. In D.P. Hader, E.W. Helbling, & V.E. Villafañe (Eds.), Anthropogenic pollution of aquatic ecosystems. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75602-4_17

This book chapter provides an overview of the types and sources of plastic pollution and the effect this has on aquatic life - both organisms and ecosystems.  The authors examine the main classes of plastics found in beach litter and in the marine environment, their degradation and fragmentation into microplastics. The majority of the chapter is concerned with the ecological impact of microplastics and the effect of their ingestion by marine fauna - from vertebrates to plankton.

 
Fabri-Ruiz, S., Baudena, A., Moullec, F., Lombard, F., Irisson, J.-O., & Pedrotti, M. L. (2023). Mistaking plastic for zooplankton: Risk assessment of plastic ingestion in the Mediterranean Sea. The Science of the Total Environment, 856, 159011–159011. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.159011

Fabri-Ruiz et al. (2023) conducted an analysis of the plastic debris and zooplankton ratio values in the Mediterranean Sea, calculating the plastic to zooplankton ratio in two case studies - the Gulf of Gabès and the Cilician basin regions which have high numbers of pelagic fish, and the Pelagos Sanctuary. The findings showed greater amounts of plastic debris than zooplankton organisms. This impacts the marine ecosystem and the fishing industry in these regions.

 
See the All Examples page for examples of in-text and reference list entries for specific resources such as articles, books, book chapters, and web pages.

Reference List Entries

For ease of use, this guide divides reference list entries into different formats.
Select the format you require from the Reference List Entries menu or select from the links below:

Subjects: Referencing
Tags: APA, referencing