1. INFORMATION LITERACY SKILLS DEVELOPMENT
Writing Annotated Bibliography: APA Style
Updated March 2017| 1
CREATING AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY IN APA
The American Psychological Association produces a specific writing and referencing style guide used in
many subject areas in Social Sciences and Humanities.
General Guidelines
INFORMATIVE
Annotations can be descriptive, summarizing the authors' qualifications, research methods, and
arguments.
INDICATIVE
Annotations can evaluate the quality of scholarship in a book or article. This type of annotation
considers the logic of authors' arguments, the quality of their evidence, identifies gaps or strengths, and
might compare the work to another author’s position on the same topic. Your findings can be positive,
negative, or mixed.
Your professor might also want you to explain why the source is relevant to your assignment.
SAMPLE PAGE: APA-FORMATTED ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Annotated Bibliography 2
Battle, K. (2007). Child poverty: The evolution and impact of child benefits. In Covell, K., & Howe, R. B.
(Eds), A question of commitment: Children's rights in Canada (pp. 21-44). Waterloo, ON:
Wilfrid Laurier University Press.
Ken Battle draws on his research as an extensively-published policy analyst, and a close
study of some government documents, to explain child benefits in Canada. He outlines
some fundamental assumptions supporting the belief that all society members should
contribute to the upbringing of children. His comparison of Canadian child poverty rates to
those in other countries provides a useful wake-up to anyone assuming Canadian society is
doing a good job of protecting children from want. He pays particular attention to the
National Child Benefit (NCB), arguing that it did not deserve the criticism it received from
politicians and journalists. He outlines the NCB’s development, costs, and benefits,

2. INFORMATION LITERACY SKILLS DEVELOPMENT
Writing Annotated Bibliography: APA Style
Updated March 2017 | 2
including its dollar contribution to a typical recipient’s income. He laments that the
Conservative government scaled back the program in favour of the Universal Child Care
Benefit (UCCB), and clearly explains why it is inferior. However, Battle relies too heavily on
his own work; he is the sole or primary author of almost half the sources in his
bibliography. He could make this work stronger by drawing from the perspectives of
others' analyses. However, Battle does offer a valuable source for this essay, because the
chapter provides a concise overview of government-funded assistance currently available
to parents. This offers context for analyzing the scope and financial reality of child poverty
in Canada.
Kerr, D., & Beaujot, R. (2003). Child poverty and family structure in Canada, 1981-1997. Journal of
Comparative Family Studies, 34(3), 321-335.
Sociology professors Kerr and Beaujot analyze the demographics of impoverished
families. Drawing on data from Canada’s annual Survey of Consumer Finances, the authors
consider whether each family had one or two parents, the age of single parents, and the
number of children in each household. They analyze child poverty rates in light of these
demographic factors, as well as larger more pervasive issues.
Howard, T, & Rifkin, J (1977). Who should play God? New York: Dell.
This book "lifts the cloak of secrecy from genetic experiments" and explores, among other
things, "who is performing the research and who profits from it" (12). It's clearly anti-
genetic engineering; its chapter titles give a good idea of the direction and flavor of the
book, for example, "Eugenics," "Eliminating 'Bad' Genes," "Bio-Futures," "Scientists and
Corporation." This book looks as if it is an appropriate source for the social arguments from
the political left wing.

3. INFORMATION LITERACY SKILLS DEVELOPMENT
Writing Annotated Bibliography: APA Style
Updated March 2017 | 3
Schechter, H. (1971). Death and resurrection of the king: Elements of primitive mythology and ritual
in "Roger Malvin's Burial." English Language Notes, 8, 201-05.
Though Schechter reorganizes the material in an interesting format, basically his study is a
reiteration of Cassier's seminal argument in The Sacred and the Profane: Modern Myth
Studies. Schechter's major contribution to the debate is his recognition that Reuben
sacrifices Cyrus so that the curse of death-in-life can be removed. Schechter's attempt to
put Cassier's argument in a Jungian context is intriguing but not quite successful, since he
must important elements in the story to do so.
Wait, Waite, L. J., Goldschneider, F. K., & Witsberger, C. (1986). Nonfamily living and the erosion of
traditional family orientations among young adults. American Sociological Review, 51 (4),
541-554.
The authors, researchers at the Rand Corporation and Brown University, use data from the
National Longitudinal Surveys of Young Women and Young Men to test their hypothesis
that nonfamily living by young adults alters their attitudes, values, plans, and expectations,
moving them away from their belief in traditional sex roles. They find their hypothesis
strongly supported in young females, while the effects were fewer in studies of young
males. Increasing the time away from parents before marrying increased individualism, self-
sufficiency, and changes in attitudes about families. In contrast, an earlier study by Williams
cited below shows no significant gender differences in sex role attitudes as a result of
nonfamily living.
Voeltz, L.M. (1980). Children's attitudes toward handicapped peers. American Journal of Mental
Deficiency, 84, 455-464.
As services for severely handicapped children become increasingly available within
neighborhood public schools, children's attitudes toward handicapped peers in integrated

4. INFORMATION LITERACY SKILLS DEVELOPMENT
Writing Annotated Bibliography: APA Style
Updated March 2017 | 4
settings warrant attention. Factor analysis of attitude survey responses of 2,392 children
revealed four factors underlying attitudes toward handicapped peers: social-contact
willingness, deviance consequation, and two actual contact dimensions. Upper elementary-
age children, girls, and children in schools with most contact with handicapped peers
expressed the most accepting attitudes. Results of this study suggest the modifiability of
children's attitudes and the need to develop interventions to facilitate social acceptance of
individual differences in integrated school
AICPA sets ethical standards for outsourcing. (2005). Journal of Accountancy, 199(1), 8. Retrieved
from http://www.journalofaccountancy.com/ settings.
This article discusses the new standards for outsourcing developed by the AICPA ethics
committee. The standards are summarized, and a brief discussion is included of the
implications going forward for business and international trade. The authors indicate that
changes to the business community will be relatively minor. This is a helpful source for
getting an overview of the current ethics standards in outsourcing.
American Management Association. (1996). The AMA style guide for business writing. New York, NY:
Author.
The American Management Association has created its own guide for business writing.
Designed as a supplemental text to more thorough style guides such as APA, this guide
covers topics relating specifically to business, such as citing financials, formatting of
company reports, and professional approaches to information integrity in the workplace.
This is an indispensible work for anyone doing professional business writing.
Barthelemy, J., & Geyer, D. (2005). An empirical investigation of IT outsourcing versus outsourcing in
France and Germany. Information & Management, 42, 533-542.
doi:10.1016/j.im.2004.02.005

5. INFORMATION LITERACY SKILLS DEVELOPMENT
Writing Annotated Bibliography: APA Style
Updated March 2017 | 5
The authors present an investigation of IT outsourcing based on the combined results of a
survey administered to IT firms as well as statistical measures from domestic and French or
German firms. Their data covers a wide range of IT business unit types. However, the lack of
longitudinal data weakens their conclusion that the slower pace of French and German IT
outsourcing has had a positive effect on business in those countries long-term.
PAY ATTENTION TO RULES!
The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (5th Ed.) states the following
formatting rules:
 The text and the reference list should be double-spaced.
 Numbering starts on the title page, at the top right of the page.
 Reference list entries must have a hanging indent.
 There should be 1 inch (2.54 cm) margins all around (top, bottom, left, and right) on each page.
 Use Times Roman font, or a similar serif font – Calibri or Arial.
 Each paragraph should be indented.