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5 Typical Mistakes to Avoid in Annotated Bibliography Writing

At times, students compose pretty complicated assignments. Thus, an annotated bibliography may become a serious challenge for many people. Though it doesn’t seem to be that hard to write, many people refer it to as one of the most boring tasks. Accordingly, students feel no enthusiasm about writing it. They write it reluctantly and pay little attention to details. Notwithstanding, this assignment should be written with great precision. Every detail is vital and may cost you a lot of grades.

Study group

An annotated bibliography provides a list of informative sources you’ve used to complete any of your academic projects. Every source provides general and specific data about the author, a title of an article or book, a year of publishing, the name of the publisher, and similar details. It helps your teachers/professors and other students to access and verify this data quickly. In the end, you should give an objective evaluation of the effectiveness of the informative sources you have used in your paper.

As you can see, this assignment has multiple requirements and details to deal with. Many college and university students make crucial mistakes while they write an annotated bibliography. To avoid them, you should learn them all.

Make allowances for the following issues:

  1. Disorganized references.

  2. Too long annotations.

  3. Poor research.

  4. Incorrect citations.

  5. Poor planning.

A reliable team of academic experts from a professional annotated bibliography writing service will shed more light on these points.

Issue #1

Most bibliographies are rewritten by students for many a time. One of the common reasons to do that is disorganization of references. Many students are simply unaware that there are several ways to organize references. 

You can organize your informative sources by:

  • Author;

  • Title;

  • Publication date;

  • Subject.

Depending on this peculiarity, the organization of your notes varies. Accordingly, you should obligatorily identify the correct format and follow the instructions of your academic supervisor.

Issue #2

Another possible issue is related to the length of your annotations. Commonly, students are not permitted to exceed the length of one paragraph. Many educational institutions consider it as a mistake and take away some grades. Other colleges and universities allow exceeding the length of a single paragraph. In this case, it’s necessary to make a clear spacing between the continuation of one annotation and the next one. Otherwise, annotations will be messed up.

Issue #3

The issue of inadequate research is likewise crucial. Unfortunately, it’s a common mistake that can be met in merely every piece of writing. A bibliography is one of such. Many students are too lazy to conduct in-depth research. As a result, they put to use the first sources they find on the Internet. Most of them may not be trusted. This makes the entire research worthless because the data isn’t officially confirmed.

Issue #4

As you write scientific research, you are obliged to use dependable data. It is commonly presented in the form of examples, statistics, surveys, interviews, and so on. You are allowed giving citations. As you write an annotated bibliography, you are obliged to cite every source you use. Nonetheless, many students just do not know how to cite correctly.

As a result, the intended audience doesn’t receive quoted comments, cannot evaluate the book or another literature piece, isn’t able to compare and contrast different works, etc. Wrong citing induces a lot of complications. Students risk losing all possible grades.

The main reason that leads to this mistake is not following the demands for your writing format. There are various types of formats, such as MLA, APA, Chicago, Harvard, Vancouver, and others. Every format is unique after its own fashion and has some important differences. You may not even notice them but they do exist. Thus, you should place a date in the middle or at the end of the citation. Even the location of commas may be crucial. Obligatorily learn all the details about the assigned format and practice referencing and citing.

Issue #5

Another huge mistake is to arrange citations in the wrong way. Your citations must be arranged in a specific order, such as chronological or alphabetical ones. It enhances productivity and makes literature review much clearer and easier to read. Nonetheless, many writers ignore this requirement or forget about it. As a result, everything looks like a real mess. It doesn’t allow focusing properly.

For example, you have seen three initial citations listed after an alphabetical order. Accordingly, you think that you’ll easily find other works using ABC. However, the next citations go in accordance with their format or date of publication. It’s simply impossible to find something. Beware of possible complications and choose a concrete order.

A Few Tips to Prepare a Good Annotated Bibliography

As you can see, there are many issues you should know about. In the event, you struggle with an annotated bibliography we can help you. There are several tips you should undertake to avoid mistakes and set things correctly. 

Take a look at the following table:

Demand

Solutions

Organization

of your

references

By the author, title, subject or date

of publication;

Arrangement

of your

citations

In chronological or alphabetical order;

By the format or subtopic;

Allowed

informative

sources

Books, articles, periodical journals,

videos, scholarly abstracts,

educational or scientific websites;

Try to remember these tips and use them in your future bibliographies. Define the writing format, learn its demands, and strictly follow them. Consult your academic advisor and avoid pitfalls.

8 thoughts on “5 Typical Mistakes to Avoid in Annotated Bibliography Writing”

  1. Another product placement!
    You too must be getting unsolicited emails proposing to add content to your site.

  2. The Meissen Bison

    The nichely amusing thing is that by justiying the text to both margins, the authors have made a pig’s ear of the table near the end. Students be warned: having a pretty bibliography does not compensate for irritating layout.

  3. Many students are too lazy to conduct in-depth research. As a result, they put to use the first sources they find on the Internet. Most of them may not be trusted.

    Too lazy nails it and they deserve to fail. Citations and their correct format are whatever your lecturer/supervisor tells you.

    On MBA in Bibliography mine had to be ordered by page# ref#. On eg page 17 refs in footnote would be:

    (1) Author, Title, Year
    (2) Author, Title, Year

    In Bibliography

    17.1 Author, Title date, pub, blah etc

    Pre internet; thus all from books, journals, periodicals, newspapers (FT, DT type), prof orgs pubs etc all from National Collection Legal deposit library, 2 x Uni libraries, 2 x Prof Orgs and City’s Central Lending & Reference Library. What fun it was scanning through micro-fiche/film /sarc

    Not difficult or onerous

  4. So who paid you for this Tim?

    Are there no charitable trusts who could give you generous grants to write your blog?

  5. “Unfortunately, it’s a common mistake that can be met in merely every piece of writing.”

    Dear God. Come on, really?

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