The Process

Creating an annotated bibliography calls for the application of a variety of intellectual skills: concise writing, succinct analysis, and informed library research. You will be retrieving websites, scholarly journal articles, and books relevant to a selected topic. You will create citations for these resources using the Modern Language Association (MLA) format. You will write concise annotations that summarize the central theme and scope of the websites, articles, and books. These annotations should include two paragraphs under the citation. They need to go as follows:
First Paragraph: Evaluate the authority, background, and education of the author(s)
Second Paragraph: Discuss how this work explains your selected topic

Example of a Citation and Annotation:
London, Herbert. “Five Myths of the Television Age.” Television Quarterly 10.1 (1982): 81-89. Academic Search Premiere. Web. 10 Oct. 2010. (This is your MLA formatted citation)
(The first paragraph talks about the author’s credentials—why is he a good source?)
Herbert London, the Dean of Journalism at New York University and author of several books and articles about the television industry, explains how television contradicts five commonly believed ideas. He uses specific examples of events seen on television, such as the assassination of John Kennedy, to illustrate his points. His examples have been selected to contradict such truisms as: “seeing is believing”; “a picture is worth a thousand words”; and “satisfaction is its own reward.”
(The second paragraph is where you summarize the information you received from this work to help explain your topic question)
EX: The main aspects of this work that assists the topic (or answers the question) is that Mr. London provides evidence to support the myths of the television age, such as………

General History Topics related to the class (American History 1590-1875)
* Your topic should be an answer to a specific question. For instance: “How did John Paul Jones influence 
support for the American Revolution,” or “what are three main theories for the cause of the Salem Witch Trials…” or “In what ways was President Jackson America’s first truly controversial President,” or “How did Baseball become America’s first popular sport,” or “What happened to Loyalists after the Revolutionary War.” There are thousands of other possible historical questions you could chose!
* Notice that these examples are not overly broad. Something like: “The history of slavery,” would be impossible to do in a 10 page paper, much less an annotated bibliography! Instead, you are going to be working on a specific topic, or point, within the larger context of a historical event.

TEMPLATE
1.Your Thesis goes here, at the top, written in a clear sentence that lays out the project and goals. (Usually you write this part last)
* Bibliographic Citation Goes First (MLA or Chicago)
* Annotation A (annotation is single spaced, about 150 words or so that critiques the validity of the source). Remember, all this must be in your own words.
* Annotation B (annotation is single spaced, about 150 words or so that summarizes the details from the source that answer your thesis). Be sure to conclude with how this evidence relates to the Thesis! Remember, all this must be in your own words.
A. Bibliographic Citation (MLA or Chicago)
* Annotation A (annotation is single spaced, about 150 words or so that critiques the validity of the source). Remember, all this must be in your own words.
* Annotation B (annotation is single spaced, about 150 words or so that summarizes the details from the source that answer your thesis). Be sure to conclude with how this evidence relates to the Thesis! Remember, all this must be in your own words.
A. Bibliographic Citation (MLA or Chicago)
* Annotation A (annotation is single spaced, about 150 words or so that critiques the validity of the source) Remember, all this must be in your own words.
* Annotation B (annotation is single spaced, about 150 words or so that summarizes the details from the source that answer your thesis). Be sure to conclude with how this evidence relates to the Thesis! Remember, all this must be in your own words.