The Annotated Bibliography

MLA Style

What is an Annotated Bibliography?

• An annotated bibliography is a summary, evaluation, and reflection of each source to be used in a research paper.• To Summarize: What are the main arguments? What is the point of

this book or article? What topics are covered? • To Evaluate: Is the source useful? How does it compare with other

sources in you bibliography?• To Reflect: Once you have summarized and assess a source, you need

to know how it fits into your research. How will this source be useful to you?

Annotated Bibliography Sample

• Look at the handout of the Sample MLA Annotation.• Notice the summary of the source’s content• Notice the evaluation of the source• Notice the reflection on the source’s usefulness in your paper.

Quotations, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing• What are the differences among quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing?• These three ways of incorporating other writers' work into your own writing differ according to

the closeness of your writing to the source writing.• Quotations must be identical to the original, using a narrow segment of the source. They must

match the source document word for word and must be attributed to the original author.• Paraphrasing involves putting a passage from source material into your own words. A

paraphrase must also be attributed to the original source. Paraphrased material is usually shorter than the original passage, taking a somewhat broader segment of the source and condensing it slightly.

• Summarizing involves putting the main idea(s) into your own words, including only the main point(s). Once again, it is necessary to attribute summarized ideas to the original source. Summaries are significantly shorter than the original and take a broad overview of the source material.

MLA Bibliography

• Basic rules• Begin your Works Cited page on a separate page at the end of your research paper.

It should have the same one-inch margins and last name, page number header as the rest of your paper.

• Label the page Works Cited (do not italicize the words Works Cited or put them in quotation marks) and center the words Works Cited at the top of the page.

• Double space all citations, but do not skip spaces between entries.• Indent the second and subsequent lines of citations by 0.5 inches to create a

hanging indent.• List page numbers of sources efficiently, when needed. If you refer to a journal

article that appeared on pages 225 through 250, list the page numbers on your Works Cited page as 225-50. Note that MLA style uses a hyphen in a span of pages.

MLA

• Basic Format• The author’s name or a book with a single author's name appears in

last name, first name format. The basic form for a book citation is:

Lastname, Firstname. Title of Book. City of Publication: Publisher, YearYear of Publication. Medium of Publication.

Links for More Bibliographical Information• Specific information for bibliographies…

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/6/

Grading Rubric for Annotated Bibliography• Highest Possible Grade: 69%

• Textbook is used as a source.• One outside source is used.• Each source is correctly paraphrased, summarized and evaluated• Bibliographical notation is correctly written.

• • Highest Possible Grade: 79%• Textbook is used as a source.• Two additional sources are used.• Each source is correctly paraphrased, summarized and

evaluated.• Bibliographical notation is correctly written.

Grading Rubric… page 2

• Highest Possible Grade: 89%• Textbook is used as a source.• Three additional sources are used.• Each source is correctly paraphrased, summarized and evaluated.• Bibliographical notation is correctly written.• • Highest Possible Grade: 100%

Textbook is used as a source.

• Five additional sources are used.• Each source is correctly paraphrased, summarized and evaluated.• Bibliographical notation is correctly written

Grading Rubric… page 3

• Highest Possible Grade: 125%• Textbook is used as a source.• Seven additional sources are used.• Each source is correctly paraphrased, summarized and

evaluated.• Bibliographical notation is correctly written.

Writing the Annotated Bibliography

• General Rules:• • Wikipedia will NOT be accepted as a resource.• Annotated Bibliography must be typed according to MLA style• Basic MLA Bibliographical citation:• • Lastname, Firstname. Title of Book. City of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication. • Medium of Publication.• • Online Assistance:• • MLA Works Cited/Bibliography guidelines: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/6/• • Annotated Bibliography information: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/614/1/