Annotated Bibliography

The Annotated Bibliography is a very important part of your History Day project. It showcases all of your research and explains how each source helped you create your project. National History Day requires that Annotated Bibliographies use the most recent edition of one of the two permitted style guides:

The Chicago Manual of Style by the University of Chicago Press
MLA Handbook by the Modern Languages Association of America

Regardless of which one you use, the style must be consistent throughout all written material. Ask your teacher if they suggest or require a certain style. Your school or local library should have the manuals available to check-out for free. If you do not have access to a library, you can use Purdue University's Online Writing Lab for guidance (use the sidebar menu on their page to choose your source type):

Purdue Writing Lab - Chicago Style

Purdue Writing Lab - MLA Style

Helpful Videos on Annotated Bibliography

Explore these videos to learn what an annotated bibliography is and how to get started creating yours.

What is an Annotated Bibliography?

Writing Bibliography Citations

Writing Bibliography Annotations

Writing Citations

Need help with creating your bibliography citations? Check out MyBib for a free online citation generator.

MyBib Citation Generator

Tracking Sources

Need a template to help you track the sources you use? Click the button for a Google Doc you can download or save to your Google Drive and then customize to fit you.

Source and Research Notes Template

Helpful Annotated Bibliography Formatting Tips

Your list should be titled “Annotated Bibliography.” Not "Bibliography," not "Works Cited". Put this title in the top center of your first page.
Divide your Annotated Bibliography into two sections, labeled "Primary Sources" and "Secondary Sources."
- In each section, entries should be alphabetized by the first word excluding “A,” “An,” and “The.”
Single-space each entry and skip one line between entries.
All source citations are tabbed 1/2 inch (one tab) after the first line.
Include full citations (not just URLs) so that the judges know what you found on a particular website.

Writing Annotations

Remember that each of your citations in your bibliography needs an annotation. Annotations briefly answer two questions:

How was the source used?
How did the source help you understand your topic?

Here is a sample citation with an annotation:

Morris, Edmund. Theodore Rex. New York: Modern Library, 2001.

This biography of Theodore Roosevelt helped me understand how Philippe Bunau Varilla was able to get President Roosevelt to recognize the revolutionary government of Panama. I used it in my project to provide details on the treaties that gave the U.S. control of the canal zone.

An annotation normally should be no more than two or three sentences long. Remember that annotations are NOT meant to summarize the source but to help the reader assess its value to your research.

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