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Annotated Bibliographies

APA Formatting Guidelines

  • Follow the same format as an APA Reference List (unless you're instructed to do otherwise).
  • The first line of the citation starts at the left margin. Subsequent lines are indented 0.5 inches.
  • The entire annotation should be indented 0.5 inches from the left margin.
  • Do not add an additional indent to the first line of the annotation.
  • If the annotation is multiple paragraphs in length, indent the first line of the second and any other paragraphs that follow.
  • The bibliography is double-spaced, both within the citation and between the citation and the annotation.

Example APA Entry

The documents below contain the APA annotated bibliography example that:

  • uses APA formatting
  • summarizes a journal article
  • contains multiple paragraphs
  • evaluates the source
  • explains why the article is significant or useful to the student's assignment
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