Core 3 Annotated Bibliography - MLA Style Due April 8

What is an annotated bibliography? An annotated bibliography is simply a list of sources (a bibliography) for your project, and it should contain the following for five sources (the three you collected for core three and two additional sources):

• An introduction to the bibliography that focuses your bibliography in the context of your topic.
• A short descriptive and evaluative summary (annotation) of each source on your list.

The short (roughly half-page) introduction to your annotated bibliography explains the purpose and focus of the bibliography - who would be interested in it, and what your criteria are for inclusion and exclusion of sources. In other words, why did you decide to include certain sources and exclude others?

Example of an introduction

The roughly 100-200 word annotation (summary) for each source summarizes and evaluates the source and details its relation to the bibliography's topic, and thus its usefulness to your research.

How should you write each entry? Use as few words as possible to provide as much information about each source as is relevant for your research project:

• First, explain the type of source your are annotating, the topic of the piece, and the qualifications of the author. For example, "in this scholarly journal article, John Jones, a researcher at Johns Hopkins University, evaluates approaches to reading incentives."
• Then describe research methods, if any and summarize the main claims of the piece. For example, " Jones surveyed 400 high school students and concluded that A and B types of incentives are not as useful as C types of incentives." You can include as much or as little detail as necessary. When necessary, include direct quotations or summary to strengthen your summary. If you directly quote or even paraphrase, remember to include the page number(s) for that information.
• You do not need to include information that is of no possible relevance to your own research.
• You should make clear how this source is relevant to your own research, if that link is not easily obvious to me. For example, "This article is of relevance to my research project in its definitions of motivation and incentives and its findings about specific incentive programs."
• You should evaluate the claims and credibility of the author as necessary. For example, if the author seems to be biased or if you think her interpretation of her data is flawed, you can comment on that in your interpretation. For example, "Jones argues that Pizza Hut's BookIt program is the only successful reading incentive program. However, his claim is suspect because he is a shareholder in Pizza Hut stock."

How should you format this annotated bib? Create a word document (hard copy). On the word document, format an MLA citation just like it would appear on a works cited page, then follow that with the annotation (no separate page for each entry - just divide them with the citation). MLA format dictates that the entire bibliography should be double spaced. Do not put an additional space between entries. Use a hanging indent after the first line of the citation, like this:

Goldscheider, Frances Kobrin, Linda J. Waite, and Christina Wistberger. "Nonfamily living and the Erosion of Traditional Family Orientation Among Young Adults." American Sociological Review 51 (1986): 541-554. The authors, researchers at the Rand Corporation and Brown University, use data from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Young Women and Young men to test their hypothesis…