An annotated bibliography consists of a list of individual citations, with each citation followed by a brief description or summary of what that article is about.
If you're unsure how to do citations, we have some examples of how to format citations for articles from journals, magazines, and newspapers below. You are welcome to create citations from scratch, but the databases will also create citations for you! It's important to double-check them for errors, but those database-generated citations can save you a lot of time. Scroll to the bottom of the page to see how to get citations from the databases.
MLA
Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Journal, Volume, Issue, Year, pages.
Example: Fletcher, Kate, and Rawan Maki. “Transnational Fashion Sustainability: Between and Across the Gulf and the UK.” Fashion Theory: The Journal of Dress, Body & Culture, vol. 26, no. 4, May 2022, pp. 509–24. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.1080/1362704X.2022.2046864.
APA
Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of article. Title of Periodical, volume number(issue number), pages. https://doi.org/xx.xxx/yyyy
Example: Fletcher, K., & Maki, R. (2022). Transnational fashion sustainability: Between and across the Gulf and the UK. Fashion Theory: The Journal of Dress, Body & Culture, 26(4), 509–524. https://doi.org/10.1080/1362704X.2022.2046864
MLA
Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Periodical, Number (vol. and/or no.), Day Month Year, pages.
Example: Monroe, Rachel. “Ultra-Fast Fashion Is Eating the World.” Atlantic Monthly, vol. 327, no. 2, Mar. 2021, pp. 76–84.
APA
Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of article. Title of Periodical, volume number(issue number), pages. https://doi.org/xx.xxx/yyyy
Example: Monroe, R. (2021). Ultra-fast fashion is eating the world. Atlantic Monthly, 327(2), 76–84.
NOTE: Author may not always be included. Skip that portion if no author listed.
MLA
Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Newspaper, Day Month Year, pages.
Example: "Sources: Shein aims for $90B valuation in IPO." News Tribune, The (Tacoma, WA), 8 Nov. 2023, p. 11B.
APA
Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of article. Title of Newspaper, pages.
Example: Sources: Shein aims for $90B valuation in IPO. (2023, November 8). News Tribune, The (Tacoma, WA), p. 11B.
Once you've found an article you'd like to use, click "Cite" from the right-hand menu.
A new insert/box will appear on the page. Scroll down until you see "APA 7th edition" or "MLA 9th edition" (depending on what your instructor requires).
Copy and paste the citation into your bibliography then STOP! Is the citation formatted correctly? Do you need to make any changes? (Hint: yes, this one needs some work!). Double-check it against the style guide above, or contact your CPTC Librarians for help.
When you've found an article you want to use, click the "Cite" button in the upper right.
A pop-box will appear. Select "APA 7th - American Psychological Association, 7th edition" or "MLA 9th (basic) - No Case Changes (No Title Casing)" from the drop-down menu.
NOTE: Do NOT choose the Annotated version of either citation style. You MUST create the annotation yourself for this assignment.
Press copy or manually copy the text in the box so you can paste it into your bibliography. Before you turn it in, double-check it for errors. (Hint: this one needs a little bit of work).
Once you've found a newspaper article that looks interesting to you, click the icon "C" from the vertical menu above the article.
Choose from either APA or MLA (or another citation style, if requested by your instructor). If you're unsure what to use, ask your instructor what they'd prefer.
Once you've selected a style, copy the text within the box that appears.
NOTE: you can leave off the database name and URL.
Paste the text into your bibliography. If you included the database name and URL, you can delete it now.
Before you turn in your bibliography, double-check the citation for errors (hint: this one looks okay, even though there isn't an author listed. That happens sometimes with newspaper articles.)