How to do an Annotated Bibliography and Works Cited, with a little bit on MLA formatting

Overall Annotated Bibliography Format Complete bibliographic information Summary (of Source Material) Rhetorical Strategies OR Use (How you might use this source in your essay) Important Quotations

Complete Bibliographic Information This is the complete publication information for your source as it will appear in your Works Cited. Your bibliography lists all the sources you consulted; your Works Cited lists the ones that actually appear in your essay

Bibliography Examples Obama, Barack. Dreams from my Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance. New York: Crown, 2007. Obama, Barack. “Full Text of Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech.” MSNBC. MSNBC, 10 December 2009. Web. 27 January 2010.

More Examples John McCain for Senator. Friends of John McCain. Web. 27 January 2010.

Basic Format for Electronic Sources Author and/or editor names (if available) Article name in quotation marks (if applicable) Title of the Website, project, or book in italics. (Remember that some Print publications have Web publications with slightly different names. They may, for example, include the additional information or otherwise modified information, like domain names [e.g. .com or .net].) Any version numbers available, including revisions, posting dates, volumes, or issue numbers. Publisher information, including the publisher name and publishing date. Take note of any page numbers (if available). Date you accessed the material.

The Best Online Source for Help The Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) MLA Style Guide http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/2/11/

Summary This is a summary of the content of the source For rhetorical sources, this should be the argument of the source For informational sources, this should be a summary of the information in the source – NOT a description of the source

Rhetorical Strategies/Use For a rhetorical source, this section should be a listing of the primary strategies used by the rhetor. For an informational source, this section should detail how you plan to use the source in your essay.

Important Quotations This section should list the important quotations you plan to use from this source. Ideally, once your annotated bibliography is done, you should not have to look at the source again. This is very useful when you have limited access to sources (protected collections in a library, etc.)

Sample Citation: Lippman, Walter. “The Indispensable Opposition.” The Atlantic Monthly. 1939. Print. Summary: Lippman argues that freedom of speech is not a noble right or something to be tolerated; rather, it is absolutely necessary to hear the opposition in order to improve our own opinions. Rhetorical Strategies: arrangement (counter argument/rebuttal first), establishes ethos through considering other side, uses logos through reasoning, refutes famous quotation, antithesis/parallelism, incongruous comparisons Quotations: “liberty of opinion is a luxury”(include page number if available), “we must protect the right of our opponents to speak because we must hear what they have to say”, “freedom of discussion improves our own opinions”, “the liberties of other men are own vital necessity”, “we tolerate the freedom of our political opponents as we tolerate a howling baby next door”

Preparing the Works Cited page The Works Cited page is a complete listing of the bibliographic citations of the sources you actually used in your essay. It appears at the end of your essay.

Formatting Your page should say Works Cited centered at the top. Citations appear in alphabetical order by the beginning of the citation Double space citations Do not indent the first line; indent the second, third, etc.

Works Cited Allen, R.L. The American Farm Book; or Compend of American Agriculture; Being a Practical Treatise on Soils, Manures, Draining, Irrigation, Grasses, Grain,Roots, Fruits, Cotton, Tobacco, Sugar Cane, Rice, and Every Staple Product of the United States with the Best Methods of Planting, Cultivating, and Preparation for Market. New York: Saxton, 1849. Print. Baker, Gladys L., Wayne D. Rasmussen, Vivian Wiser, and Jane M. Porter. Century of Service: The First 100 Years of the United States Department of Agriculture.[Federal Government], 1996. Print. Danhof, Clarence H. Change in Agriculture: The Northern United States, 1820-1870.Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1969. Print.

MLA Formatting of Your Paper Type your paper on a computer and print it out on standard, white 8.5 x 11-inch paper. Double-space the text of your paper, and use a legible font (e.g. Times New Roman). The font size should be 12 pt. Set the margins of your document to 1 inch on all sides. Indent the first line of paragraphs one half-inch from the left margin. MLA recommends that you use the Tab key as opposed to pushing the Space Bar five times. Create a header that numbers all pages consecutively in the upper right-hand corner, one-half inch from the top and flush with the right margin.

Formatting the First Page In the upper left-hand corner of the first page, list your name, your instructor's name, the course, and the date. Again, be sure to use double-spaced text. Double space again and center the title. Do not underline, italicize, or place your title in quotation marks; write the title in Title Case (standard capitalization), not in all capital letters. Use quotation marks and/or italics when referring to other works in your title, just as you would in your text: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas as Morality Play; Human Weariness in "After Apple Picking" Double space between the title and the first line of the text. Create a header in the upper right-hand corner that includes your last name, followed by a space with a page number; number all pages consecutively with Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, 4, etc.), one-half inch from the top and flush with the right margin.

Sample First Page