Annotated MLA Works Cited page

An additional way to construct a Works Cited page is to summarize the contents of a reference article you cite within the citation on your Works Cited page.  This type of citation is called an Annotated Works Cited or Annotated Bibliography.  This process requires that you be able to summarize a reference article or reference from a book in a few concise sentences, usually between three and six sentences. The annotation should start on the next line after the final period of the regular citation and be written in complete sentences.  Skip an extra space between citations so that it is visually obvious where the next citation begins.

Works Cited

Booker, Keith M. A Practical Introduction to Literary Theory and Criticism.  White Plains, New York: Longman Publishers, 1996.

This textbook summarizes and explains in clear language ten contemporary theories regarding the reading of literature.  This volume includes explanations of New, Psychoanalytical, Reader-Response, Deconstructive, Marxist, Feminist, Bakhtinian, Foucauldian, New Historicist, and Multicultural Literary Criticism.  The book also includes examples of essays written that apply each of these critical approaches to the same work.

Gardner, Michael.  “Gov. Davis Had Time to Spare.” San Diego Union Tribune:

SignonSanDiego.com.  18 October 2001. 20 October 2001 <http://www.signonsandiego.com/ news/politics/20011018-9999_1n18bills.html>.   

This article is a news article that explains the situation behind Governor Gray Davis’s last minute, marathon work session to sign almost one hundred bills before a legislative deadline.  According to the article, Davis didn’t realize that the deadline was another 24 hours away.  According to sources, Davis had plenty of time to consider each bill with care.

Quittner, Joshua.  “The Thrill of Drudge Work.”  Time 16  June  1997:  67.

This article satirizes the nature of our daily lives and the chores we have become accustomed to doing.  Chores such as taking out the trash and cleaning the bathroom are becoming moments that we can use to escape the rat race and pressures of our jobs and responsibilities, even if it is only for a few minutes.  The author shows psychological research that supports his claim, though his conclusions seem a bit illogical. 

Thompson, Smith.  The Folktale. New York: Dryden, 1946. 

This book is a comprehensive survey of the most popular folk tales in America.  The book includes the history of these tales and their uses in literary works. It begins with folk tales from the 17^th century and includes contemporary folk tales and Native American stories.    

Wolf, Stacy.  “Re/Presenting Gender, Re/Presenting Violence: Feminism, Form and the Plays of Maria Irene Fornes.”  Theater Studies.  37  (1992) : 17-31. 

This article focuses on the idea that the presentation of male violence towards women in the media may not exactly cause more violence, but it does legitimize it as an accepted part of our society.  The author mentions Strindberg’s article “Forward to Miss Julie” and several plays that depict male violence.

Working with Citations:  MLA Style

As you become a more sophisticated writer, you will begin to use outside sources of information to support your ideas. In MLA style, documentation of sources appears in two places in your writing: in your essay and in a works cited page at the end of your essay.  You may need to document sources of information in longer research papers and in shorter works in which you mention just a few books, articles, web pages, or other sources to illustrate your point.  This information is designed to give you an introduction to the principles of documentation according to MLA style, however more in-depth information and models of citations are available in your handbook.

Using information in an essay from an outside source allows you to support your ideas and arguments or illustrate your point.  However, any information that is not generally regarded as common knowledge must be cited using MLA documentation.  Always cite the following:

· Facts and statistics

· quotations

· someone else’s ideas and opinions, even if you restate or paraphrase them in your work.

· each sentence in a long paraphrase if the various pieces of information come from separate sources.

MLA format uses what is called a parenthetical notation for all citations.  Within these parentheses, a citation contains two main elements: the author’s last name and the page number where a piece of information can  be found.

Ex.  By 1745 there were approximately 45, 000 German speakers in the colonies, and by 1790 there were some 200,000 (Anderson 80).

**Notice

· there is no comma between the author’s last name and the page number.

· do not use an abbreviation for the word page, such as pp. or p.

· the period comes after the notation.

· there is a space between the last word and the notation and a space between the author’s last name and the page number.

 Citing Quotations

Quotations are useful to use when you need to support your ideas with other people’s opinions or information provided directly from another written source.  Any quotation that you use that contains material that furthers your thesis must be cited in a parenthetical note after the quotation marks.

Ex.  In her essay “Black Women and Motherhood,” the author remarks, “Motherhood can serve as a site where Black women express and learn the power of self-definition” (Collins 132). 

Or

Ex.  In her essay “Black Women and Motherhood,” Patricia Hill Collins remarks, “Motherhood can serve as a site where Black women express and learn the power of self-definition” (132). 

Blocking Quotes

When a typed quote runs more than four lines, MLA requires you to set off the quote in a blocked format. Follow this process for determining when to block a quote and how to do it.

Step 1:             Type the quote normally.

William Burroughs, in his autobiography Junky, attempts to describe the aimless existence of a heroine addict.  Burroughs writes, “So I drifted along, scoring through Pat.  I stopped drinking, stopped going out at night, and fell into a routine schedule: a cap of junk three times a day, and the time in between to be filled somehow.  Mostly I spent my time painting and working around the house.  Manual work makes the time pass fast.  Of course, it often took me a long time to score” (Burroughs 75).  Burroughs’s writing minimalistically explores the useless and meandering lifestyle of a life spent addicted to substance.

Step 2: If the quoted  material runs more than four lines, begin the quote on a separate line and indent the quote by pushing the tab button twice. Remove the quotation marks 

William Burroughs, in his autobiography Junky, attempts to describe the aimless existence of a heroine addict.  Burroughs writes,

So I drifted along, scoring through Pat.  I stopped drinking, stopped going out at night, and fell into a routine schedule: a cap of junk three times a day, and the time in between to be filled somehow.  Mostly I spent my time painting and working around the house.  Manual work makes the time pass fast.  Of course, it often took me a long time to score.  (Burroughs 75) 

Burroughs’s writing minimalistically explores the useless and meandering lifestyle of a life spent addicted to a substance.