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Annotated Bibliographies

Create an Annotated Bibliography Using Refworks and Word

  1. Create a bibliography in RefWorks using the MLA 9 Title Case style. Screenshot of refworks folder titled annotated bibliography. The "Create Bibliography" button with a quotation mark symbol is selected with white text on a blue background, and a red arrow is pointing at the "create bibliography" option at the top of the drop down menu.           
                                  Screenshot of Refworks generated works cited page with the bibliography style set to MLA 9th - Title Casing. A red arrow points at the drop down box where the style is selected.
  2. Click the "copy to clipboard" button. Screenshot of Refworks generated works cited page. A red arrow points to a blue botton with white text that has a clipboard logo before the words "copy to clipboard."
  3. Open a Word document. The instructions below are based on the online version of Word, not the desktop application. 
  4. Paste the bibliography into the document, keeping the source formatting. 
  5. Change the title from "Works Cited" to "Annotated Bibliography" or "Annotated List of Works Cited." Confirm title requirements with your instructor.
  6. Use the Citing Sources Guide to fix any errors in the citations.  Word Document with a works cited page containing 3 citations. Red boxes with black text describe errors in the doc. Maroon arrows point to the errors.
  7. Select all the text in the document by highlighting it or pressing the Ctrl+A keys. 
  8. While the text is highlighted, click on the three dots on the far right of the menu bar to access the paragraph settings. 
  9. Hover over the "line spacing" option from the drop down menu. Click on "2." Word Document with an annotated bibliography containing 3 citations. Red arrows point to the three dots that open the paragraph drop down menu and the 2 in the line spacing pop out menu.
  10. Click to move your cursor to the end of your first citation (after the final period). 
  11. Again, click on the three dots on the far right of the menu bar. 
  12. Hover over the "line spacing" option from the drop down menu. Click on "Remove space after paragraph." Red arrows point to three dots that open paragraph
  13. Press the enter key. 
  14. Again, click on the three dots on the far right of the menu bar. 
  15. Hover over the "special indent" option from the drop down menu. Click on "None." Red arrows point to three dots that open paragraph formatting menu in word doc and the "none" option in the special indent pop out menu to the left of the paragraph drop down. The "none" option has 5 short horizontal lines of alternating length next to it.
  16. Write your annotation. When done, highlight the text of the annotation. 
  17. While the text is highlighted, click the increase indent button twice to indent the annotation 1 inch from the margin. This button is located in the middle of the menu bar and looks like 5 horizontal lines with a blue arrow pushing them to the right. Word document with an annotated bibliography. There is a red arrow pointing to the "increase indent" button on the top menu bar. A red box with the text "click 2 times while annotation is highlighted" is below the arrow.
  18. Repeat steps 10-17 for each citation. MLA 9 style Annotated bibliography with three citations. The first citation has an annotation below it.