Special Thanks to the Librarians at Spartanburg Community College for allowing us to borrow their examples page
This is a descriptive walk-through of the above screenshot “MLA English 101 Annotated Bibliography Example” which is an example annotated bibliography. In this description, the exact words of the example annotated bibliography aren’t read, the description focuses on describing the order and elements of an annotated bibliography. If you want to read or hear the word-for-word reading of the example annotated bibliography without descriptive comments, refer to the box at the bottom of the page labeled “MLA English 101 Annotated Bibliography Example Text.” Each section of the example image is highlighted and labeled to indicate the different elements of an annotated bibliography. We’ll start at the top and work our way down the page.
There is a running header at the top right corner that includes the student’s last name and page number. On the left side there is the student’s full name on one line, the instructor’s name on the following line, the class name and number (ENG 101-A01) on the following line, and the date on the following line. The comment in the middle indicates that this is part of the MLA style of formatting annotated bibliographies. I’m highlighting that to let you know that this format (double-spaced, 12 point font, Times New Roman font, 1 inch margins, and the header format) is particular to MLA. An APA paper will be formatted differently and that’s on another tab.
Centered in the middle of the page is the title Annotate Bibliography. Everything following this is left-justified unless otherwise specified. Beneath the centered title is the sample thesis. This is your thesis for your paper, not the thesis of the source or sources you’re referencing. The thesis in this example is about texting while driving and safety devices that can prevent texting while driving.
Below the thesis is the first citation. Remember that these are in alphabetical order of the author’s last name. In this example, there are only 2 citations and they’re written by the imaginary Joe Jones and Susan Smith. So the first citation is Jones, Joe with the rest of the citation in MLA format. Note that the citation takes up multiple lines and anything after the first line of a citation needs to be indented. There’s info on how to do that on the main Annotate Bibliography tab.
Following the citation is a summary of the article. It does not start with an indent like a normal paragraph does. Keep it left justified. There are 2-3 sentences of summary about the article’s research and findings. Without starting a new paragraph, the example goes right into the evaluation of the article. In this example, they focus on the reliability of the article’s author and publisher. They also note the age of the article and acknowledge that information may have changed since the article was written and when the student accessed it. What you write about in this section may be different, depending on your instructor’s requirements for evaluation. The student goes on to write about how they are using it. Again, not creating a new paragraph here. The student explains how the article supports their thesis and where they will use the information within the paper.
The student moves on to Citation #2 from Smith, Sue. This happens to start on a new page, so we see the running header in the upper right corner that still has the student’s last name but now has a 2 after it for page 2. This should happen automatically if you add a header in Word.
Again, this citation is in MLA format and any part of the citation past line 1 is indented. On a new line, left-justified, with no paragraph indent, the student starts with a 2-3 sentence summary of this new article. Immediately after the summary is the evaluation focusing on author and publisher reliability and expertise. After that is how the student is using the information in the paper.
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Jane Smith
Dr. Williams
Eng. 101-A01
3 Aug. 2016
Sample Annotated Bibliography
Working Thesis: Since current efforts to curb texting while driving through legislation are proving ineffective, activists should focus their efforts on persuading car manufacturers to install safety devices in new cars that prevent drivers from texting while driving.
Jones, Joe. “Texting While Driving Legislation Proving Useless.” Transportation Safety, edited by Frank Harvey, 2nd ed., vol. 3,
Singleton, 2016, pp. 80-89.
This book chapter discusses a study done in 2014 by the National Highway Traffic Safety Agency, a division of the U.S. Department of Transportation, where they looked at the number of car accidents caused by texting while driving in states with legislation banning texting while driving. They compared the number of accidents before and after the law was passed and found that there was no reduction in these accidents, even after the law had been in place for over three years and there had been multiple publicity campaigns to raise awareness. The chapter was written by Joe Jones, who is a law professor at the University of Michigan specializing in transportation legislation. Because of his expertise in the field, he should be a reliable author to write about the subject. The book Transportation Safety was published by Singleton, which is a well-respected publisher of reference material for academic libraries. The book was published in 2016 but the statistics all came from 2014, so in my paper, I’ll have to consider that the numbers may have changed. The source of the statistics, though, is very reliable because the National Highway Traffic Safety Agency is the government agency responsible for collecting national statistics on car accidents. The source is not biased because they support texting while driving bans, so the fact that they show no improvement helps support their objectiveness. This book chapter supports the first part of my argument that claims texting while driving bans are ineffective; this will be the first point I address in my paper in order to convince my audience that car safety devices are a better solution. I will also use the chapter for the statistics and background it provides on which states have texting while driving bans and how the bans were passed, so I can show how much effort has been focused on passing legislation.
Smith, Sue. “New Device May Help Prevent Texting While Driving.” Car and Driver, 23 Jan. 2015, pp. 12-14. Gale Power Search.
This article discusses a new safety device, currently marketed towards parents of teen drivers, that disables a cell phone’s texting, emailing, and phoning ability while the car is on. Car and Driver magazine reviewed and tested the product and gave it good reviews on functionality but pointed out the obvious problem with the product: it’s optional for people to buy, and it can be unplugged by a driver at any time, which renders it useless. However, they also report that the maker of the device is working on a system that will alert parents whenever the device is unplugged, which should make it more effective at curbing teen texting while driving. This article was written by Sue Smith, who is a staff journalist with Car and Driver, a well-known car-enthusiast magazine that primarily focuses on reviews of cars and car-products. Because the car industry is the magazine’s area of expertise, and they have over fifty years of experience in reviewing car products, they should be a reliable source for a review of a car product. This article provides information on a product that I’m arguing could be part of a better solution to prevent texting while driving. I will use this article as my basis to argue that having car manufacturers install this device would eliminate the weaknesses in the product pointed out by this article: that it can be unplugged and that an individual has to decide to purchase and install the device.
Jane Smith
Dr. Williams
Eng. 101-A01
3 Aug. 2016
Comment box here reads: MLA Format: double-spaced, 12 point font, Times New Roman, 1 inch margins with arrows pointing to the running header and the student’s information.
Sample Annotated Bibliography
Comment box here reads: Thesis. Working Thesis: Since current efforts to curb texting while driving through legislation are proving ineffective, activists should focus their efforts on persuading car manufacturers to install safety devices in new cars that prevent drivers from texting while driving.
Comment box here reads: Citation 1. Jones, Joe. “Texting While Driving Legislation Proving Useless.” Transportation Safety, edited
by Frank Harvey, 2nd ed., vol. 3, Singleton, 2016, pp. 80-89.
Comment box here reads: Summary. This book chapter discusses a study done in 2014 by the National Highway Traffic Safety Agency, a division of the U.S. Department of Transportation, where they looked at the number of car accidents caused by texting while driving in states with legislation banning texting while driving. They compared the number of accidents before and after the law was passed and found that there was no reduction in these accidents, even after the law had been in place for over three years and there had been multiple publicity campaigns to raise awareness. Comment box here reads: Evaluation. The chapter was written by Joe Jones, who is a law professor at the University of Michigan specializing in transportation legislation. Because of his expertise in the field, he should be a reliable author to write about the subject. The book Transportation Safety was published by Singleton, which is a well-respected publisher of reference material for academic libraries. The book was published in 2016 but the statistics all came from 2014, so in my paper, I’ll have to consider that the numbers may have changed. The source of the statistics, though, is very reliable because the National Highway Traffic Safety Agency is the government agency responsible for collecting national statistics on car accidents. The source is not biased because they support texting while driving bans, so the fact that they show no improvement helps support their objectiveness. Comment box here reads: Your Use. This book chapter supports the first part of my argument that claims texting while driving bans are ineffective; this will be the first point I address in my paper in order to convince my audience that car safety devices are a better solution. I will also use the chapter for the statistics and background it provides on which states have texting while driving bans and how the bans were passed, so I can show how much effort has been focused on passing legislation.
Comment box here reads: Citation 2. Smith, Sue. “New Device May Help Prevent Texting While Driving.” Car and Driver, 23 Jan. 2015, pp. 12-14. Gale Power Search.
Comment box here reads: Summary. This article discusses a new safety device, currently marketed towards parents of teen drivers, that disables a cell phone’s texting, emailing, and phoning ability while the car is on. Car and Driver magazine reviewed and tested the product and gave it good reviews on functionality but pointed out the obvious problem with the product: it’s optional for people to buy, and it can be unplugged by a driver at any time, which renders it useless. However, they also report that the maker of the device is working on a system that will alert parents whenever the device is unplugged, which should make it more effective at curbing teen texting while driving. Comment box here reads: Evaluation. This article was written by Sue Smith, who is a staff journalist with Car and Driver, a well-known car-enthusiast magazine that primarily focuses on reviews of cars and car-products. Because the car industry is the magazine’s area of expertise, and they have over fifty years of experience in reviewing car products, they should be a reliable source for a review of a car product. Comment box here reads: Your Use. This article provides information on a product that I’m arguing could be part of a better solution to prevent texting while driving. I will use this article as my basis to argue that having car manufacturers install this device would eliminate the weaknesses in the product pointed out by this article: that it can be unplugged and that an individual has to decide to purchase and install the device.