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Most of you are already familiar with writing a bibliography or works cited page.  This is a page of the sources that you gathered your information from.  Follow the standard MLA format for the bibliography.  An annotated bibliography is a standard bibliography that is annotated.  An annotation is a brief description of a work such as an article, chapter of a book, book, Web site, or movie. An annotation attempts to give enough information to allow the reader to make a decision as to whether or not to read the complete work. Annotations may be descriptive or critical.

Your annotated bibliography should have the following:

·        A wide range of sources such as books, Web sites, periodical articles, etc.

·        each item should begin with the proper MLA bibliographic citation

·        each item should be followed by an evaluative annotation, with at least one sentence emphasizing how the source is relevant to your topic, and then a brief evaluation of the source in terms of bias, currency, and completeness, or other factors.

Organize the annotated bibliography in a meaningful way, chronologically, alphabetically, or topically.

How to evaluate the source: The annotation should do three things: Summarize the article, point out what is important about it, and provide criticisms or point out shortcomings. You will have to work at being succinct so you can get all this in the space allotted. When you criticize, try to be reasonable and adopt a neutral tone.  A thorough annotation will also include the following:

• Information to explain the authority and/or qualifications of the author. For example: Dr. William Smith, a history professor at XYZ University, based his book on twenty years of research.
• Scope and main purpose of the work.
• Any biases that you detect.
• Intended audience and level of reading difficulty.
• The relationship, if any, to other works in the area of study.
• A summary comment, e.g., "A popular account directed at educated adults."