An annotated bibliography is a list of citations to books, articles, and documents. Each citation is followed by a brief usually about words descriptive and evaluative paragraph, the annotation. The purpose of the annotation is to inform the reader of the relevance, accuracy, and quality of the sources cited.
This guide is here to help answer all of your questions and includes step-by-step instructions on how to do an annotated bibliography in MLA style. You will also find a sample MLA annotated bibliography, real-life examples, and opportunities to practice what you have learned.
All of the information provided here, however, offers direction for students and researchers who use MLA style in their work. A bibliography is a complete list of the sources that were used to complete a research paper or project. Depending on the style guide you follow, you may also see this called a Works Cited or Reference List.
Each listed source, or citation, shares information about the author, title, publishing year, and other details that serve to credit the original authors whose work informed your research. These details also help other students and researchers find and read the source materials.
There are few limitations to the types of sources that you can include, and your list may consist of sources that range from books and academic journals to food labels and tweets. An annotated bibliography in MLA includes a concise explanation of each listed source, known as an annotation.
Depending on the assignment, this annotation may be solely descriptive, or analytical. An abstract and annotation should not be confused; they differ in both their substance as well as their placement in a paper. If you would like to learn morethis link further explores the difference between an abstract and an annotation.
This resource provides additional information on how to write a bibliography with annotations in other formats. Before you learn how to make an annotated bibliography in MLA style, you may be wondering why you need to.
Sometimes instructors want you to create and include annotations in your bibliography either as part of an assignment or as an assignment unto itself. Understanding the purpose of this approach to your references list can help to ensure that you gain all of the benefits that the process provides.
As a student, this method will help you develop or hone your research skills, providing you with practice not only in locating sources but also in analyzing and evaluating them for relevance and quality.
Your instructor will gain insight into your research abilities, as well, allowing them to assess your work more thoroughly. If you plan to publish your research, this comprehensive approach to detailing your sources will provide readers and other researchers with a substantial directory of resources to evaluate for their own work.
This example shows what the entry will look like without an annotation: Here is the same entry with an annotation.
This article offers brief and clear directions for MLA formatting of a bibliography with annotations. It also demonstrates how writing annotations can benefit students who are tasked with researching a subject and offers instruction on the organization of entries and acceptable page titles.
While the advice is tailored to respond to a question posed by an instructor, students and researchers may also benefit from the guidance that the MLA provided.
Writing the Description If you are creating a list of references with annotations as part of an assignment, forming the written portion of your annotation begins with identifying the format requested by your teacher or professor.
The summary of an annotated bibliography in MLA style may be written either as short, direct phrases or as complete sentences. Your instructor will advise you of which approach you are required to take. Your annotations should include either the main points from the source, as well as the topics covered, the approach used and any findings, or your critical evaluation.
A standard annotation is words or approximately one paragraph. Take care not to include any unnecessary details, as the goal is to summarize each source as succinctly as possible and, in some cases, evaluate them.
Here is an MLA annotated bibliography example which contains the citation as well as a summary for the book The Elements of Eloquence: The Elements of Eloquence: Secrets of the Perfect Turn of Phrase. The author, Mark Forsyth, examines the rhetorical devices used in the English language, analyzing the patterns and formats that create memorable quotes.
He traces the history of rhetoric to the Ancient Greeks, and provides an abridged timeline, following their use and evolution through to modern day. The author also explores the broader subject of persuasion and maps out the role that the figures of rhetoric play in it.
In all, he examines over thirty devices, dissecting notable passages and phrases from pop music, the plays of William Shakespeare, the Bible, and more to explore the figures of rhetoric at work within each of them. Thorough definitions accompany this examination of structure to demonstrate how these formulas have been used to generate famously memorable expressions as well as how to reproduce their effects.
Additional annotated bibliography examples in MLA are found further down the page. For more information on annotations, check out this informative site.Watch video · An annotated bibliography is an organized list of sources (like a reference list).
It differs from a straightforward bibliography in that each reference is followed by a paragraph length annotation, usually – words in length. An annotated bibliography is a brief list of summary of books, articles, documents, website or any publication. It should give enough information to help a reader decide whether to read the complete work.
The Ultimate Unabridged Annotated Bibliographies Guide. If you have just received an assignment that requires an MLA annotated bibliography, . Learn how to write an annotated bibliography from our example Each paper has a writing manual, and it is so easy to get lost when you do not really see the difference in a literature review or annotated bibliography writing.
Aug 29, · To write an annotated bibliography, start by gathering all the source material you used in your project and choosing the most high-quality work to include, such as scholarly journals or reputable websites%(9).
By using an annotated bibliography example, you can avoid common mistakes, get additional information on the structure of annotation and find new ideas to write about. It is a great chance for students, who want to write .