For this assignment you are to generate an annotated bibliography on the topic of your research essay. Although I am expecting you to read 10-15 sources in order to prepare your essay, for this particular assignment your sources must be (and must only be):

Each annotated bibliographic entry ought to act as a reminder to yourself of what you've read -- a handy guide to your understanding of your research materials -- but each also ought to envision which audience the particular piece might appeal to most, and why. 

Sample Annotated Bibliography Entry

N.B.  You are required to have five annotated sources on your bibliography, and the bibliography should be in MLA format.  See Bedford §56b for form of entries and p. 644 for general format of a bibliographic page.  (Yours will differ, obviously, because you'll have annotations.)

 SAMPLE ENTRY

MacDiarmid, Hugh. The Letters of Hugh MacDiarmid. Ed. Alan Bold. London: MacMillan, 1985.¹

This is the collection of MacDiarmid=s letters and, as such, ought to be² a useful reference. He corresponded both with close friends and with writers such as Ezra Pound and TS Eliot³; the letters give insight into not only his life but also his position as an early twentieth-century writer. There are also numerous letters to lesser personalities from earlier in his career which are nonetheless useful because they document his feelings on language⁴, especially the distinction between Scots and English. However, though this volumes is complete, it is a mess.⁵ Bold=s refusal to categorize the letters any more than by whom they were written to, and the lack of an index, means that readers will end up doing a lot of hunt and peck research rather than being able to use it as a ready reference.⁶ 

WHAT I DID:  The Elements of the Entry
(Remember, though, this is explanation only on my part; your responsibility is to generate the entries alone.)

  1.                  Citation. Follow MLA format explicitly. It's simply a matter of getting the form straight and we're giving you the forms, always.  This is why I made you buy the MLA Handbook, after all.

2.                  I'm setting up a critical assessment of this volume with this verb phrase. Though I don't want to expand upon it right now because I want to note the book's content first, I want to hint at my opinion from the start.

3.                  Give important elements/connections that you might need later. These names are biggies and MacDiarmid's conversations with them could prove useful in any study of him.

4.                  My essay is to focus on MacDiarmid's language, so I want to address exactly how this text addresses issues of  "language."

5.                  Transition from the possible uses and content of the text to my opinion of it. The "it's a mess" is probably a bit informal for an annotated bibliography, but it's nonetheless a true characterization, so I'll keep it. (Just watch your diction as you=re doing this.)

6.                   Finally, I give a sentence to let other readers know whether it'll be useful for them; here, I'm asserting that it won't be except for the die-hard fans and researchers (i.e. those who love MacDiarmid or those who have lots of time to read the thousand-plus pages of letters).