Annotated Bibliography
The goal of your annotated bibliography is to collect sources relating to your research topic (an expansion of one of your previous papers written for this class) and to think through the ways those sources will be of use in your research paper.
This is a working bibliography; you must list and annotate five SCHOLARLY sources–websites (sparknotes, enotes, wikipedia, etc.) NOT included. You will locate these sources through PRCC’s online library and databases. Watch the following video to find ways to locate scholarly sources within a database (skip to 1:28 and watch to the end):
You are required to use at least three of these sources in your final research paper. Do not include articles and book reviews under 500 words in your bibliography. Articles of that brevity are already summaries! Remember, you may not use all the sources listed here in your final paper, but a working bib helps you make connections between sources and helps you see the “larger picture” – the various perspectives which different authorities have on a subject.
Your research should represent a number of perspectives on your topic–think of the points/claims/arguments you discussed in your analysis. You are locating sources to further justify and back up those claims/points you made. Be sure to utilize both books and journal articles in your research. Websites are NOT allowed as sources.
You should list 4 items for each source (not numbered like this – see example):
MLA citation
A brief summary (a paragraph or so)
A brief discussion of if and how the source will be useful to you in your research paper (Example: I will use this source to help me prove __________ within my paper. Or I will probably not use this source within my paper; however, it could be helpful for someone writing a paper which focused on __________.)
Possible quotes you might use from this book or article (list at least one quote for each source listed in your annotated bibliography) – PLEASE try not to use quotes longer than four lines when typed out. If you do choose something lengthy, it must be formatted as a block quote within the actual paper – this has a specific MLA format. Go here for more information: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/03/ – see “Long Quotations” (Additional NOTE: You won’t format it as a block quote in the bibliography – only the essay.)
List each source alphabetically in proper MLA works cited format. Follow each citation with the annotation (the material listed above in number 2-4).
