Use an annotated bibliography or a literature review to document your sources and then inform your reader of the relevance, accuracy, and quality of your sources.
Annotated bibliography
An annotated bibliography is a list of citations to books, articles, and documents. Each citation is followed by a brief (usually about 150 words) descriptive and evaluative paragraph.
APA style
- Use alphabetical order
- Indent the annotation 0.5 inches from the left margin
- Do not indent the first line of the annotation but do put it as a new paragraph below the citation
- If the annotation spans multiple paragraphs, indent the first line of the second and any subsequent paragraphs an additional 0.5 inches
MLA style
- No special instructions
Literature review
Literature reviews use pieces of your annotated bibliography to show how an idea is discussed or treated by multiple sources.
- Weave together summaries of different sources in your writing
- Lead with main ideas from the sources and show how multiple sources speak to each idea