An annotated bibliography provides an overview of sources that you have considered for your research project. Researchers frequently create annotated bibliographies to keep a record of sources and their thoughts about them. Researchers sometimes also publish annotated bibliographies to provide others with a useful tool for beginning a research project of their own.

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What an annotated bibliography includes depends on the researcher’s rhetorical situation. But most entries answer these questions:

Some also include an introduction that explains the purpose and scope of the annotated bibliography and may describe how and why the researcher selected the sources. The annotated bibliography in Chapter 5 by Maya Gomez, written for her composition instructor, might have included an introduction like this:

My annotated bibliography is intended to provide me with the sources I need to write a report on compensating organ donors. It includes sources that provide background on evolving government policy and that offer arguments for and against compensating donors. These sources represent a number of perspectives, including economic, political, moral, and personal; they have been written by well-respected scholars (for example, the Nobel Prize–winning economist Gary S. Becker) and organizations (the National Kidney Foundation).