APA Style: APA Citations and Writing

Annotated bibliographies differ from abstracts or summaries of articles. Annotated bibliographies are a list of sources (journal or news articles, books, websites, datasets, etc.) on a particular topic. The list is usually in alphabetical order by author and employs a single citation style. The propose of an annotated bibliography is:

• To prove you have done some valid research to back up your argument and claims
• To explain the content of your sources, assess their usefulness, and share this information with others who may be less familiar with them

Some questions to help with your analysis of a source might include:

• What’s the main point or thesis of this source?
• Does the author seem to have particular biases or are they trying to reach a particular audience?
• How does this source relate to your own research and ideas?
• How does this source relate to other sources you have read? Do they have aspects of the same argument or opposing views?

Here are a few links to help you better understand and construct an annotated bibliography.

Graphic Organizers to help you build an annotated bibliography:

A DOI (short for Digital Object Identifier) is a unique number assigned to any digital object like an article, a data set, image, etc.  The doi starts with the number 10 and might contain numbers, letters, and often slashes and periods.  

So, for the following article:

The doi number is 10.1037/0003-066x.55.1.68

How to cite an article with a DOI:
APA (American Psychological Association)
Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55(1), 68-78. doi: 10.1037/0003-066x.55.1.68​

ASA (American Sociological Association)
Ryan, Richard M., and Edward L. Deci. 2000. "Self-determination Theory and the Facilitation of Intrinsic Motivation, Social Development, and Well-being." American Psychologist 55(1). Retrieved March 7, 2018 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.55.1.68).

For more information on DOIs, visit https://www.doi.org/ 

Citation managers like RefWorks, EndNote, Mendeley and Zotero help you track and organize your citations, so that when you're writing your paper, you can easily cite your sources. Citation managers also help you insert citations, create endnotes and bibliographies. 

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