Citing Sources in Turabian: Annotated Bibliographies

Follow the directions provided by your professor for the assignment. These instructions may have additional requirements for what must be included in your annotation. 

An annotation  can contain a short summary describing a source and/or an evaluation of a source. They demonstrate that you have read and understand the sources you have selected.

An annotated bibliography contains annotations for each of the bibliographic entries. An annotated bibliography has two parts for each entry—the complete bibliographic entry and the annotation. 

• Unless otherwise directed by your assignment, title it Annotated Bibliography. 
• The title is in bold, centered at the top of the first page. Place two blank lines between the title and the first entry.
• The annotation directly follows the reference entry on the next line.
• Single space within entries, but separate each entry with an extra space.  
• The bibliographic entry portion follows all the regular rules for how an entry of that type is formatted on a bibliography, including the hanging indent required for all references on a reference list. See Bibliography Examples .
• The annotation is indented 0.5 inches from the left. Do not indent the first line further. 

Since an annotated bibliography includes the full bibliographic entries, do not add a separate bibliography at the end. 

When writing annotations, use the third person narrative voice in the literary present tense (e.g., "The author discusses…" and "This work is…"). Do not use first or second person (i.e., avoid the use of I, me, my, mine, we, our, us, you, and your). Focus annotations on summarizing, analyzing, or evaluating the source, and refrain from quoting the source or other sources within the annotation. To review, the following is a simple list of dos and don'ts for writing annotations:

• Use third person literary present voice.
• Do not use first person (I) or second person (you).
• Focus on summarizing, analyzing, or evaluating the source.
• Do not cite or quote within the annotation.

Turabian Style does not specify a set a length for annotations. Follow the directions provided by your professor for the assignment. These instructions may have additional requirements for what must be included in your annotation.