1) The introduction (300-500 words) explains your research process and how you developed your list of sources (why these sources and not others?). You should review at least ten to twelve sources before deciding which ones will be most useful for your paper. In your introduction, you should summarize not only the process of your research but also how the research informed your perspective and led you to the thesis of your research paper.

2) Complete publication information in standard MLA format. This citation is exactly the same information that will appear on the Works Cited page, included at the end of your paper. You should include a minimum of four sources, and I recommend looking at more than this required number of sources before you decide which four you will include in your annotated bibliography.

3) An evaluative summary of each work listed. This immediately follows the bibliographic citation for the source, and it has two parts. First, describe the source: What is it? Who wrote it? What is its main point? Why was it written?  Second, evaluate the work in relation to your analysis. How does it apply to your research paper’s thesis? You should paraphrase specific points, and you might consider brief quotations as they are relevant to establishing the connection between the sources and your ideas.  A good average word length for each evaluative summary is 150-200 words.