mla annotated biblography

mla annotated biblography

The Importance of MLA Annotated Bibliography in Academic Writing

1. Introduction

For example, when you are doing research, you have to know how to summarize and list the resources that you have collected. There is a case where you stumble upon an article or a website that contains a lot of information that you think is good and can be used in the future. But when the time comes, you forget where to find it and there is also information that you missed from that article or website. The ways to prevent this case from happening is when you find it, try to print or save the pages and make a summary of the articles. This is important because you will not be confused and it will be easier to find the information, and it will also save time because you do not have to read it again. Then, the summarized articles are in your own words. You do not have to use the article’s writer’s choice of words or sentences. And if you have enough time, try to translate it into your local language. By doing a translated summary, you will understand more about the article because you have to find words or sentences with the same meaning from the original article to be written in your language. This method can also improve your language skills. Oh, but there is one thing that you are still missing. You do not list your resources. So when you finish making your research, you will be confused because you do not know the names of the articles or websites that you have collected. Now, this is very frustrating. High and low, you search your browser history or try to remember what keywords you used to find the articles, but still no luck. Then you forget about the information that you lost because you do not know the location and what the article is all about. This case happens because you do not have a tool to mark and list your resources.

First of all, we have to understand what MLA is. MLA is the short form of Modern Language Association. As a student, there are many things that you have to pay attention to when doing your tasks, especially research, assignments, or any other works in the academic field. You have to prioritize and manage your time well in order to make your work great. It is not only that. Your work should be of high quality, readable, understandable, and informative. You have to do a lot of reading, understanding, and memorizing to make your work good. As a beginner, sometimes you do not know where and how to start. The work you have done is still at a low level and needs a lot of improvement. You do not know what the methods, steps, or procedures are to make a good work in the academic field. There are things that you have to know in making a good work. The tips, methods, and the most important things are the tools in making your work high quality and can be identified as great works.

2. Understanding MLA Annotated Bibliography

You need to present a brief overview of the source. Keep it brief—less than one page. A good annotation will help you make informed choices that will match your topic and also your sources. Follow citation with the annotation under the citation. The aim of an annotated bibliography is to convince the reader that the source article is exceedingly relevant to the essay topic. An MLA annotated bibliography is an alphabetical list of citations which follow the standard MLA format – it includes a citation followed by a short paragraph. This paragraph would contain a summary of the source, its relevance to your paper, and its worth, in your own words. Step by step, here is how to do an annotated bibliography. A good annotation is around 150 words. Firstly, you need to find the source or sources which you have found profound enough to add to your paper. Then cite it, the way you would cite a source in your paper – an easy way is to go to the website Citation Machine. Then the next step is the one which confuses many people – due to the confusion of what an annotation is. An annotation is a summary and evaluation; therefore, an annotated bibliography includes a summary and an evaluation of each of your sources.

3. Benefits of Using MLA Annotated Bibliography

This in turn helps the reader, the author and anyone else interested in the research learn exactly what the source is about. The person preparing the bibliography can use the summary as a tool to access whether or not he or she fully understands the article and can also use it later as a reference when it comes time to write the article review. This should be especially effective considering the short and precise nature of the article summaries.

Amidon, Stephen. “A Shortage of Skilled American Workers.” Electronic document. 12 Sept. 2004. The author, a contributing editor for Progressive Engineer, makes a persuasive case for a new government initiative to train existing workers in new industries.

An annotated bibliography is a list of citations to books, articles, and documents. Each citation is followed by a brief descriptive and evaluative paragraph of about 150 words. The purpose of preparing an annotated bibliography is to inform the reader of the relevance, accuracy, and quality of the sources cited. The first benefit of using an MLA annotated bibliography is that it helps to summarize the content of the research, in order to inform the reader of the relevance, accuracy and quality of the sources cited. This is done by compiling a short sum of each source like the following example:

4. How to Create an MLA Annotated Bibliography

It’s really that simple. Now you are ready to begin writing your own annotated bibliography.

Step by Step: First, locate and record citations to books, periodicals, and documents that may contain useful information and ideas on your topic. Briefly examine and review the actual items. Then choose those works that provide a variety of perspectives on your topic. Cite the book, article, or document using the appropriate style. Write a concise annotation that summarizes the central theme and scope of the book or article. Include one or more sentences that (a) evaluate the authority or background of the author, (b) comment on the intended audience, (c) compare or contrast this work with another you have cited, or (d) explain how this work illuminates your bibliography topic.

Once you have the sources for your annotated bibliography, putting one together is a relatively simple process. The MLA (Modern Language Association) style is generally used for academic writing in the humanities. There are some excellent guides to MLA citation format online. However, not all of the rules will be relevant depending on the type of annotated bibliography you are working on. Generally, though, the bibliographic information of the source (the title, author, publisher, date, etc.) is written in MLA format. The annotations are a concise summary of the source with an emphasis on its relevance to your paper topic.

5. Conclusion

Annotated bibliographies are extremely helpful tools for all researchers. They are a quick way to get an overview of the material you have in front of you and enable you to make well-informed decisions about the relevance and quality of the research you are doing. By clarifying all inferences, summarizing the argument, theory, and content of the work to be done, assessing the work’s contribution to your research, whether it is useful, and analyzing the work as a critical evaluation of the resources, will go a long way to prove credibility and improve the quality of research.

By identifying time gaps, inconsistencies, or missing inferences in the document, the researcher can correct the kinks in the research process, which will help solidify the presentation of the thesis or dissertation.

In conclusion, it is important to know that an annotated bibliography is an important component of academic writing. It focuses on creating work cited documentation ahead of writing. Writing an annotated bibliography will help you learn about your topic. It will help you find the information in your reading materials and think of a thesis for your paper. Without writing a good research, whether it is a term paper or a dissertation, you will not be able to prove its credibility without valid inferences. An annotated bibliography helps you think about your research project. This is a good method to help organize your findings and begin to build a framework for your research. Even if you are not required to write an annotated bibliography, it is a highly recommended task, an extremely useful tool, and an excellent method to help you organize and make sense of the readings you have conducted. It will prevent you from doing last-minute research, which is often wasteful and unfruitful.