Annotated Bibliography

Professor Name

Course Name

Date

Sample Annotated Bibliography

Student Essay Title: The Various Interpretations of Steinbeck’s Fiction

Barnes, Rebecca. “Steinbeck’s East of Eden.” The Explicator, vol. 15, no. 4, pp. 159-61. Project

Muse, doi.10.1193/bjp.bk.122.09345.

Barnes analyzes Steinbeck’s novel East of Eden, paying close attention to the literary allusions found within the story. Barnes focuses primarily on the allusions to Pandora, a character from Greek mythology, and to biblical figures: Adam, Eve, Cain, and Able. She also pays close attention to the repeated symbolic usage of boxes that appears throughout the story.

Busch, Christopher. “Longing for the Lost Frontier: Steinbeck’s Vision of Cultural Decline in

‘The White Quail’ and ‘The Chrysanthemums.’” The Literary Post, 31 March 2011,

http://www.literarypost/steinbeck/busch.com

In his article Busch deals with the idea of the yearning for the long ago ‘lost frontier’ lifestyle, as it is portrayed in Steinbeck’s fiction. Busch mentions various Steinbeck works that deal with this theme of a forgotten frontier, but mainly centers his analysis on the short stories “The White Quail” and “The Chrysanthemums.” He shows instance in these stories where the characters desire to be free from their current lifestyles/stations/locales and want the primal, more simplistic and satisfying existence of the old frontier days. Busch also draws attention to the portrayal of the decline of American society as represented through Steinbeck’s writing.

(Note: Your annotated bibliography must follow this template. Pay close attention to the student information, header, title, spacing, indenting, font size/type, and proper citation format (including punctuation). The example above only provides three entries, yours of course will include a minimum of seven – two of which must be scholarly journal articles. Scholarly content is key along with mechanics, as well. You should have a working title for your term paper.)

Annotated Bibliography – ENG 1002

The Task: For your upcoming research project you will need to become an expert in your chosen civic issue. This, of course, requires research. An annotated bibliography is a tool that allows you to showcase your understanding of the research material (your issue) and documents your progress and understanding of the material. It allows your professors to make sure that you are on track and gives them a quick overview of the academic conversation before you engage with it. It is also a useful tool for you because when you are in the writing process, instead of having to go back and re-read each and every source to determine if they are usable at a certain point in your paper, you can simply turn to this piece and review the summary instead. It also can be useful in the future if you ever decide to re-visit this area of study again. This can also be a spot to save/describe possible assets you stumble across so going beyond the minimum may useful. The minimum required sources for this assignment is seven (two of which must be scholarly journal articles). Again, consider the credibility and ideological bias/affiliation of your sources when selecting them.

The Format: An annotated bibliography is just what its name implies – a bibliography (or works cited page) that is “annotated” (meaning that it has notes/description/discussion embedded into it). Basically it will look like a normal MLA works cited page with brief paragraphs in between the standard bibliographic citations. These paragraphs are simply summaries of the sources that hint at their upcoming use in your essays. To ensure that you are formatting your annotated bibliography correctly, refer to the attached sample. It must have the proper student information and header, a title, the sources must be in alphabetical order, the citations should be double-spaced and indented according to MLA rules, and the paragraphs should be 5-7 substantial (single-spaced) sentences.

The Rubric: