A reference list for a research or a medical paper which contains a short explanation of the content of each of the source is termed as an annotated bibliography. These annotated bibliographies can be presented in three formats namely; MLA (Modern Language Association), APA (American Psychological Association) or CBE (Council of Biology Editors) / CSE (Council of Science Editors) format. The annotated bibliography APA format will be focused in this article because it is the one that is commonly used.

Annotated bibliography formats such as MLA (Modern Language Association) and CBE (Council of Biology Editors) / CSE (Council of Science Editors) format could all be converted into an annotated bibliography with an APA (American Psychological Association) format. Most medical research papers use the APA (American Psychological Association) format reference list because many medical associations require this format in presenting the reference list f medical journals.

To change the other formats into an annotated bibliography APA (American Psychological Association) format the word “References” should be written at the top of the page. The word “References” should be placed at the center of the paper. Each of the citations that were written as MLA (Modern Language Association) and CBE (Council of Biology Editors) / CSE (Council of Science Editors) format should be deleted. The deleted reference list should be re-typed using the APA (American Psychological Association) format in writing reference lists.

Different methods are used in converting each annotated bibliography format into an APA (American Psychological Association) format reference list. To search for the following methods, you could browse Resources or look it up in the web. The Resources contains links. These links will instruct you step by step on how to convert annotated bibliography formats such as MLA (Modern Language Association) and CBE (Council of Biology Editors) / CSE (Council of Science Editors) into an APA (American Psychological Association) format reference list.

The next step in changing the other annotated bibliography formats into an annotated bibliography APA (American Psychological Association) format is to delete the short explanation of the source that is written below it. The most important step is to arrange the list of sources in alphabetical order, using the first author's family name as basis for the arrangement. The last but not the least step is to set the entire page into a double spaced form. The double spacing method is a trademark of an annotate bibliography that is written in an APA (American Psychological Association) format.