When to use it
- An APA 7 annotated bibliography assignment for a psychology, education, nursing, business or social science course
- The source list a supervisor wants to see before you start a literature review or a thesis chapter
- A research proposal or grant application that asks for annotated references in APA style
- Reading notes kept in APA format from the first source, so the reference list is ready when the paper is
- Checking a finished bibliography against the APA 7 format rules before you submit it
An APA annotated bibliography is a list of sources formatted like an APA reference list, with a short paragraph under each reference, the annotation, that summarizes the source, judges it, or says how you will use it. In APA 7 the annotation starts on the line after the reference and the whole paragraph is indented 0.5 in. from the left margin, the entries are in alphabetical order, and everything is double-spaced. This page gives the full format rules, a five-source example and a template you can fill in.
If you need MLA as well, or a quick comparison of the two styles, the general annotated bibliography template covers both. This one goes deep on APA.
How to use this template
- Read the assignment before APA
Check five things: how many sources, how long each annotation should be, which kind of annotation is wanted (summary, evaluation or both), whether you need a title page, and whether you may group entries by theme. Your instructor's rules come before anything APA says. Write the research question into the table at the top of the template, because it decides which sources belong on the list.
- Write the reference while the source is open
Copy every detail the reference needs as soon as you decide to keep a source: all the authors in the order printed, the year, the full title, the journal, volume, issue and page range, and the DOI. Each entry in the template shows the pattern for one source type. Delete the pattern you don't need.
- Annotate in your own words
Fill in the summary, evaluation and use lines, then delete the labels so they read as one paragraph. Write the summary with the source closed: if you can't, you haven't understood it yet.
- Alphabetize, format and check
Put the entries in order by the first author's surname, export the document to Word, set the indents and spacing from the table below, and work through the checklist at the end of the template. Then delete the grey notes, the rules box and the checklist.
APA annotated bibliography format
The rules come from the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed., 2020), the style guide behind APA style. Section 9.51 covers annotated bibliographies and Figure 9.3 shows a sample. Two kinds of rule meet in every entry. The reference is pure APA, formatted exactly as in a reference list. The annotation is looser: the manual sets its layout, but its length and content come from your assignment, and some instructors ask for a different layout too. Here is one entry laid out, with labels where each part starts and ends:
One APA 7 entry, labeled (invented source)
[Reference: 0.5 in. hanging indent. It ends with the DOI.]
Okafor, N. E., & Lindqvist, M. (2022). Summer reading programs and reading
achievement in Grades 2–5: A two-district comparison. Journal of Library
and Family Literacy, 14(2), 87–104. https://doi.org/10.xxxx/xxxxx
[Annotation: starts on the next line; the whole paragraph is indented 0.5 in.]
[Summary] Okafor and Lindqvist compared spring and fall reading scores
for 1,240 students in Grades 2–5 in two school districts, one with a
library summer program open to every child and one without. Students
who completed the program held their spring scores, while similar
students in the other district fell by about a tenth of a grade level.
[Evaluation] It is the most direct evidence on my list, but families
chose to join the program, so children who already read at home may be
overrepresented; the authors control for earlier test scores, not for
reading at home. [Use] It is the main evidence in my second section.In the paper, leave out the bracketed labels, set the journal name and the volume number 14 in italics, and double-space every line. Everything not listed below follows the normal rules for an APA paper.
| Element | Rule | Set by |
|---|---|---|
| ElementTitle | RuleAnnotated Bibliography, bold and centered at the top of the first page of the list | Set byAPA, unless your instructor gives another title |
| ElementOrder | RuleAlphabetical by the first author's surname, as in a reference list; a group author goes under its name, and a work with no author under its title | Set byAPA, unless you are asked to group by theme |
| ElementSpacing | RuleDouble-spaced throughout, references and annotations alike, with no extra blank lines between entries | Set byAPA |
| ElementReference | RuleFormatted like any APA reference, with a 0.5 in. hanging indent | Set byAPA |
| ElementAnnotation layout | RuleA new paragraph on the line after the reference; the whole paragraph indented 0.5 in. from the left margin, lining up with the hanging indent; no extra first-line indent | Set byAPA, though some instructors ask for another layout |
| ElementTwo or more paragraphs | RuleIndent the first line of the second and later paragraphs a further 0.5 in. | Set byAPA |
| ElementLength and content | RuleHow long each annotation runs and whether it summarizes, evaluates, reflects or all three; many library guides suggest about 150 words | Set byYour assignment |
| ElementPage setup | Rule1 in. margins, a page number at the top right of every page, and an accessible font such as 11-point Calibri or Arial, 12-point Times New Roman or 11-point Georgia | Set byAPA |
| ElementTitle page | RuleStudent version: title, your name, school, course number and name, instructor, due date and page number; no running head unless your instructor asks for one | Set byAPA, if the bibliography is submitted as a standalone paper |
The indents can't be typed in, so set them once the entries are written. In Word, select the references, open the Paragraph dialog and choose Special: Hanging, By: 0.5". Select the annotations and set Left to 0.5" with Special set to none. Set Line spacing to Double for the whole list.
APA annotated bibliography example
A full example for one research question: Do public library summer reading programs reduce summer reading loss for children in Grades 2–5? It covers the five source types that turn up most: a webpage, a book, a journal article, a report by an organization and a chapter in an edited book. Every source in it is invented. The authors, titles, publishers and findings don't exist, so don't cite them; copy the format and the moves.
Annotated Bibliography
Brennan, T. (2024, June 3). Five ways to keep children reading in July. Family Reading Exchange. https://www.example.org/summer-reading-tips
Brennan, a former children's librarian who now writes for a family-literacy nonprofit, offers five low-cost habits for keeping children reading over the summer, from a library visit on the same weekday every week to letting children choose comics and graphic novels. The page is clear and current, but it is advice rather than evidence: it cites no studies and reports no results, and the organization that publishes it runs summer reading events of its own. I use it only in my discussion section, as an example of the guidance families actually receive, and set its claims beside the measured effects in Okafor and Lindqvist (2022).
Haddad, R. (2021). The long vacation: Why children's reading slips in summer and what communities can do. Calder Hill University Press.
Haddad, an education researcher, brings together four decades of studies on summer reading loss and argues that the gap between children from lower- and higher-income families widens mostly in the summer months, when access to books differs most. The early chapters explain how researchers measure loss by comparing spring and fall test scores; the later ones review interventions, from mailing books home to library programs, and conclude that programs work best when children choose their own books and finish at least four or five of them. Because the book synthesizes other researchers' work and its newest studies date from 2019, I use it for background and for my definition of summer reading loss, not as evidence that any one program works.
Marrowfield Public Library. (2023). Summer reading 2023: Participation and outcomes. https://www.example.org/marrowfield-summer-2023.pdf
The library's annual report gives participation figures for its 2023 summer program by age group and branch, with results from a voluntary survey of parents. Most of its numbers are counts, such as registrations, books logged and events held, rather than outcomes, and the survey heard only from families who returned the form. As a primary source it shows how one program defines success and whom it reaches; as evidence that the program improves reading, it is weak. I use the participation figures to describe the program in my second section and treat its outcome claims with caution.
Okafor, N. E., & Lindqvist, M. (2022). Summer reading programs and reading achievement in Grades 2–5: A two-district comparison. Journal of Library and Family Literacy, 14(2), 87–104. https://doi.org/10.xxxx/xxxxx
Okafor and Lindqvist compared spring and fall reading scores for 1,240 students in Grades 2–5 in two school districts, one with a library summer program open to every child and one without. Students who completed the program held their spring scores, while similar students in the other district fell by about a tenth of a grade level. It is the most direct evidence on my list, but families chose to join the program, so children who already read at home may be overrepresented; the authors control for earlier test scores, not for reading at home. It is the main evidence in my second section.
Whitcombe, J. A. (2020). Counting books or counting minutes? How libraries measure summer reading. In P. Moreno & S. Adeyemi (Eds.), Public libraries and children's learning (pp. 115–138). Harbor & Finch.
Whitcombe compares programs that count books with programs that count minutes, drawing on interviews with 30 children's librarians in six states, and argues that counting minutes rewards time spent rather than books finished. The chapter changed how I read the rest of this list: the books logged in the library's report and the four or five books in Haddad (2021) measure different things, so their numbers can't be compared directly. I am adding a short section on measurement before I present any results.
Look at how the entries differ. Brennan's annotation says what the source cannot be used for. Haddad's separates background from evidence. The library report is judged as a primary source, which is what an organization's own report is (see primary vs secondary sources). Whitcombe's annotation is reflective: it records how the source changed the plan of the paper.
Summary, evaluative and reflective annotations
Assignments ask for different kinds of annotation, often without naming them. Here is the same journal article from the example annotated three ways. Most course assignments want the three moves combined, as in the example above.
Okafor and Lindqvist compared spring and fall reading scores for 1,240 students in Grades 2–5 in two districts, one with a library summer program and one without. Students who completed the program held their spring scores; similar students in the other district fell by about a tenth of a grade level.
The comparison is large and the measures are standard, but families chose to join the program, so the children who completed it may already have read more at home. Controlling for spring scores reduces that problem without removing it, and both districts are suburban, so the result may not hold in rural areas.
This is the strongest evidence I have that a program can stop summer loss, so it anchors my second section. Its self-selection problem also gives me my limitations paragraph, and it pushed me to look for a study that assigns children to programs at random.
APA 7 reference formats for common sources
An annotated bibliography is only as good as its references, and formatting slips are the easiest marks to lose. These are the patterns for the five types in the example.
| Source | APA 7 pattern |
|---|---|
| SourceJournal article | APA 7 patternAuthor, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of article in sentence case. Journal Name in Title Case, volume(issue), pages. https://doi.org/xx.xxxx/xxxx (journal name and volume in italics) |
| SourceBook | APA 7 patternAuthor, A. A. (Year). Title of book in sentence case (2nd ed.). Publisher. https://doi.org/xx.xxxx/xxxx (title in italics; add the edition only if it isn't the first) |
| SourceChapter in an edited book | APA 7 patternAuthor, A. A. (Year). Title of chapter. In E. E. Editor & F. F. Editor (Eds.), Title of book (pp. xx–xx). Publisher. (book title in italics) |
| SourceReport by an organization | APA 7 patternOrganization Name. (Year). Title of report (Report No. 123). Publisher, if not the organization itself. URL (title in italics) |
| SourceWebpage | APA 7 patternAuthor, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of page. Site Name. URL (page title in italics; leave out the site name when it is the same as the author) |
Three APA 7 changes catch people who learned the older edition: there is no publisher location, no "Retrieved from" before a URL (unless you add a retrieval date, for a page designed to change), and a DOI is written as a full https://doi.org/ link. List up to 20 authors in a reference. "Et al." belongs in in-text citations, not in the reference list; the guide to et al. has the rules for each style.
Weak and strong APA annotations
A strong annotation could only describe one source. A weak one would fit any source on the list, which means it tells your reader nothing.
Strong
- Compares spring and fall scores for 1,240 students in two districts, one with a library program.
- Families chose to join, so children who already read at home may be overrepresented.
- The main evidence in my second section; its weakness becomes my limitations paragraph.
Weak
- This article is about summer reading programs.
- The authors are experts and the study is reliable.
- This source was very useful for my research.
Common APA mistakes to check
- A first-line indent on the annotation. The whole annotation moves in 0.5 in. as a block; only later paragraphs get an extra first-line indent.
- Single spacing or blank lines between entries. APA double-spaces everything and adds nothing extra between entries.
- Title case for articles and books. Article, chapter, book, report and webpage titles take sentence case; only journal names take title case.
- Italics in the wrong place. Italicize the journal name and volume, and the titles of books, reports and webpages, but not the titles of articles or chapters.
- Old-edition habits. A publisher location, "Retrieved from" before a URL, or "doi:" instead of https://doi.org/.
- Ordering by date or by title. Entries go by the first author's surname, even when your assignment is about how a debate changed over time, unless your instructor says otherwise.
- Annotations that repeat the abstract. An abstract gives the authors' view of their work. The annotation adds yours.
Frequently asked questions
How long should an APA annotation be?
Your assignment sets the length. Without one, about 150 words in a single paragraph is a common default in library guides. A summary annotation can be two or three sentences, while an evaluative annotation for a thesis proposal may run to two paragraphs. If an annotation has more than one paragraph, indent the first line of each later paragraph a further 0.5 inches.
Does an APA annotated bibliography need a title page?
If you submit it as a standalone paper, the APA 7 student format starts with a title page: the title, your name, your school, the course number and name, the instructor, the due date and a page number. Many instructors drop the title page for short assignments, so check the instructions. Student papers don't need a running head unless you are asked for one.
Can I use first person in an APA annotation?
Yes. APA 7 allows first person when you describe your own work, and reflective annotations depend on it: sentences like 'I use this study in my second section' are normal. Keep the summary part about the source rather than about you, and keep the tone academic.
Is an annotated bibliography the same as a reference list?
No. An APA reference list contains only the works you cite in a paper and has no annotations. An annotated bibliography adds a paragraph under each source and can include works you consulted for background. Both use the same reference format and the same alphabetical order.
