Last Name Pg.#
Lisa M. Thomas
MCWP 50
“Wayward” Women
Annotated Bibliography
General Instructions:
What you should write:
1. A short description of your project, which will eventually include your rough thesis.
2. An MLA citation for the source you’re referencing.
3. In a paragraph, summarize and analyze the source’s arguments (at the level of claims,
subclaims, data/grounds, warrants, and qualifiers). If this is an entire book, you may
want to rely on the introduction and on a “speed reading” of the sort recommended on pp.
106-107 of The Craft of Research. You will also likely be summarizing a single chapter
of a book or an academic essay published in a journal, in which case you should read
more slowly and in greater detail.
4. In a second paragraph, evaluate the source in relation to your topic. Tell what is of
potential value to you and how you see the relevance to your research. For the first two
drafts this will necessarily be speculative. If your argument is still a little hazy when you
write drafts one and two, just specify how each source has contributed to your
understanding of your topic—what you learned, how it clarified, changed or reconfirmed
your existing ideas, etc. However, for the final draft, the evaluations should move more
towards how each source relates to your project and argument specifically. You must
also put specific sources in conversation with each other in every entry—how do they
build off of each other, challenge each other, complicate each other, etc.?
How you should format it:
1. Standard paper with 1” margins on all sides; use 12-point Times or Times New Roman
font.
2. While you should follow standard MLA citation format for your sources, single space
your annotative and evaluative paragraphs.
3. See my example for how to set up the order of items in your bibliography.
4. See also A30-32 in your Reader for examples regarding content but not format (refer to
this handout for my preferred format).
Specific instructions for the three drafts:
Remember that each source for every draft will be arranged alphabetically, with the citations in
MLA style (see recommended online source or MLA handbook, 3rd edition), followed by
annotation and evaluation. See syllabus for due dates.
Draft #1: Three or more sources (including at least one “primary source”—something you’re
looking at as a “gendered” representation (a poster, movie, book, commercial, website, etc.)).
Draft #2: Six or more sources (may include three from Draft #1). Must include all primary
sources, plus select secondary sources.
Final draft: Ten or more sources (may include sources from previous drafts). The vast
majority of your “secondary” sources (sources that inform you about your primary source(s))
must be “scholarly” sources—from books and journals, not from magazines, personal websites,
Wikipedia, or other sources that may not be checked for accuracy.
Last Name Pg.#
What I'll be looking for in the final draft:
First is the scope and focus of your sources; I don't want to feel like you went online and picked
the first 4 books and 6 journal articles that came up. You should find materials that have
something to do with your topic beyond being specifically about the woman/women you’re
studying. Remember that you don’t have to agree with your source, which leads me to the second
thing I’ll be looking for—how well you put your texts in context with one another and with your
project in your second, evaluation paragraphs. You won’t have to use all of the sources in your
final project, so it’s okay if a few don’t fit 100%, but you must be as clear as possible about how
sources will work to your benefit. For the ones that seem like they will work, try to connect
them in a way that still points out what’s unique about each source, rather than just repeating the
same evaluation in each entry (“This source is helpful/interesting.”). Third, I will be looking at
the annotation/summary paragraphs to see how coherently and accurately you describe the
sources—do you seem to understand the text, and can you convey this understanding in one
paragraph? For example, when you annotate a primary source, you may have to explain an
entire book or movie in a paragraph, which takes skill both as a reader/viewer and writer. Fourth
is the mechanics—are the entries formatted properly? How is your grammar and sentence
structure?
Some thoughts on sources:
Remember that you want your sources to be as current as possible, so try to look for
books/journals published recently. This rule does not apply, of course, to sources written during
the Salem witch trials, for example, if your project includes looking at pre-contemporary issues
of gender and tracing changes over time. To begin your research, go to “Libraries” on UCSD’s
website. You can connect to the MLA database by going to “Databases” and to the book and
bound journal database through ROGER or Melvyl (ROGER only has books at UCSD’s library;
Melvyl is UC-wide). JSTOR is a good online source you can use through the MLA (as well as
through UCSD’s website itself under “Databases”), although it may not have the most current
published works. JSTOR allows you to view the material online and isn’t limited just to material
on literature, so remember this site for your other classes. “Sociology: A SAGE Full-text
Collection” is also sometimes helpful, depending on your topic.
You may only use a maximum of three sources from the course syllabus (both primary and
secondary). If you wish to use more, you must consult me and get permission; be prepared to
justify why you want to use more course materials rather than finding your own sources. Also be
sure that you have more secondary sources than primary sources; in your 10-12 page research
paper, you won’t have space to closely analyze more than a few primary sources—and one
primary source may be enough for your topic (especially if it’s an entire movie or book).
Finally—don’t be lazy! Looking for the path of least resistance now leads to weaker sources,
which will most likely lead to a weaker final paper or even a project so flawed that you might
need to start over completely (which I highly discourage because of time constraints).
Last Name Pg.#
Your Name
Lisa Thomas (TA)
MCWP 50 Section #____
Date (formatted like: 2 April 2008)
Annotated Bibliography: Draft 1/2/Final
Rough Topic: Here, I’ll have a sentence or two where I describe my rough topic/argument.
Eventually, this will become a clear thesis for the final paper. This may change as you draft this
bibliography, but you should take a stab at 1) identifying which text/item you’re using for this
project as a primary source(s) and 2) giving your readers a clue about the theme/topic/argument
you’ll be discussing in regards to that text/item.
Anderson, Bob. A Book about Gender. Waco: Baylor UP, 2008. Print.
Here, you’ll have a paragraph describing what this text is about. This is a basic
annotation that spends one long paragraph describing the text (5+ sentences to be considered a
full paragraph, though 5 sentences may not be enough to be thorough). What are the main
arguments? If it’s a text with a story, what are the basic plot elements? This will give your
reader a sense of what this book/article/movie/etc. is talking about overall and how it’s
constructed. You should consider including a couple of important quotes from this source, such
as the author’s main thesis. Remember to cite quotes with page/paragraph numbers.
At this point, you’ll have another paragraph of evaluation. This is a paragraph of, again,
5+ sentences where you think more critically about the text you’ve cited. What’s interesting
about it in terms of your own topic? How has it informed or contradicted or challenged you?
There must be some reason why you’re using this text versus other texts, so you should discuss
those reasons. Maybe it speaks really well to another text you’re also using—agreeing or
disagreeing or elaborating on that other text. Maybe it provides great context/background info
for your topic. Maybe it’s a foundational text that’s cited in a bunch of other sources, so you
should use it as a “central” text in this field. Maybe it’s the primary source around which you’re
constructing your entire paper.
Billings, Jane. “Salem Witches: New Interpretations about Their Accusers.” Women’s Studies
Quarterly 27.1 (2007): 1-15. Print.
Here, you’re moving on to your next annotation. Notice that the sources are listed in
alphabetical order by the author’s last name (or whatever comes first in the citation, according to
MLA). The first source was a book, so MLA style was used for a book; this source is a journal
article, so MLA calls for a different formatting style. Also note that the citations are double-
Last Name Pg.#
spaced, but the paragraphs for annotation and evaluation are single-spaced. If your citations go
onto a second line—like this one does—you should keep it double-spaced and use a “hanging
indent” so only the first line of the citation is on the left side of the page, and the lines under it
are indented once to the right. Also notice that the citations aren’t numbered. You just start with
the author’s last name and don’t number the items or use bullets or anything like that.
Also notice the formatting of this entire document. You should use 12-point Times or
Times New Roman font. Your paper should have 1” margins (Mac: Format Document
enter 1” on all sides of paper; PC: FilePage Setupenter 1” on all sides of paper). Also
double-space your header in the upper-left corner, include a centered title, and include your last
name and page number in the upper-right corner as a header (Mac and PC: ViewHeader and
Footeralign text to the far right of the page within the outlined “Header” box that appears
type your last name and one spaceclick the “#” icon in the little “Header and Footer” menu
rectangle that appearsmake sure all text is Times/Times New Roman 12click “Close” on the
same menu rectangle to exit the Header mode).
“Witches of Salem: A History.” Houghton Mifflin Library. Harvard University, 2005. Web. 20
Sept. 2009.
Here’s an entry that has no identified author or editor, so again use the MLA guidelines to
figure out how to format this entry (by title first since there’s no author/editor). This is also an
online source, so there are some other special formatting rules—especially if there’s certain
information that you can’t figure out, like the sponsor, publisher, or when the page was last
updated (again, see MLA). Also note that the newest version of MLA no longer requires you to
include the URL for web sources.
Also note that you shouldn’t have a header on the upper-left with your name, course
number, etc. on this second page of the bibliography. Some students add that on every page, but
that’s not MLA style. Just be sure your last name and page number are in the upper right corner
as a header—that’s how we keep your pages straight and don’t confuse your work with other
students’. Putting this header in the upper-right is optional for Page 1 (because you have a
heading on that page at the left), so use the style you’re used to.