MLA Examples
MLA EXAMPLE OF INFORMATIVE ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY:
TAKEN FROM "HOW TO WRITE AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY"
London, Herbert. "Five Myths of the Television Age." Television Quarterly 10.1
(1982): 81-89. Herbert London, the Dean of Journalism at New York
University and author of several books and articles, explains how television
contradicts five commonly believed ideas. He uses specific examples of
events seen on television, such as the assassination of John Kennedy, to
illustrate his points. His examples have been selected to contradict such
truisms as: "seeing is believing"; "a picture is worth a thousand words"; and
"satisfaction is its own reward." London uses logical arguments to support his
ideas, which are his personal opinion. He doesn't refer to any previous works
on the topic. London's style and vocabulary would make the article of interest
to any reader.
MLA EXAMPLE OF INDICATIVE ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY:
EXAMPLE FROM PATRICIA BIZZELL AND BRUCE HERZBURG'S BOOK
Griffin, C. Williams, ed. Teaching Writing in All Disciplines. San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1982. Ten essays on writing-across-the-curriculum
programs, teaching writing in disciplines other than English, and teaching
techniques for using writing as learning. Essays include Toby Fulwiler,
"Writing: An Act of Cognition"; Barbara King, "Using Writing in the
Mathematics Class: Theory and Practice"; Dean Drenk, "Teaching Finance
Through Writing"; Elaine P. Mairnon, "Writing Across the Curriculum: Past,
Present, and Future."
MLA EXAMPLE OF EVALUATIVE ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY:
EXAMPLE FROM BRENDA SPATT'S BOOK
Gurko, Leo. Ernest Hemingway and the Pursuit of Heroism. New York: Crowell,
1968. This book is part of a series called "Twentieth Century American
Writers": a Brief Introduction to the Man and his Work. After fifty pages of
straight biography, Gurko discussed Hemingway's writing, novel by novel.
There's an index and a short bibliography, but no notes. The biographical part
is clear and easy to read, but it sounds too much like a summary.
MLA EXAMPLE OF COMBINATION ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Doll, Susan and Greg Faller. "Blade Runner and Genre: Film Noir and Science
Fiction." Literature Film Quarterly 14.2 (1986): 89-100. Doll and Faller assert
that Ridley Scott's film, Blade Runner, exhibits elements of two distinct pulp
genres, film noir and science fiction. The genre cross-pollination is a reflection
of Philip K. Dick's novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, upon which
the movie is based. After a useful discussion of genre, the authors go on to
effectively discuss defining characteristics of both noir and sci-fi, despite the
difficulties of such a project. Through the course of accessible discussion and
useful examples from the film, the complexities involved in the combination of
genres are revealed. In addition, the article also examines the ways that noir
and sci-fi in fact complement each other, noir providing a distinct style and sci-
fi a distinct narrative direction. Both genres are also concerned with many of
the same issues, especially social constructs, ethics, and the state of being
human.
MLA EXAMPLE OF TELESCOPIC ANNONTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY:
TAKEN FROM BRENDA SPATT'S BOOK
Hingley, Ronald. Chekhov: A Biographical and Critical Study. London: George
Allen & Unwin, 1950. A very good biography. A unique feature of this book is
the appendix, which has a chronological listing of all English translations of
Chekhov's short stories.
MLA EXAMPLE OF PARAGRAPH ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Renner, Stanley. "'Red hair, very red, close curling': Sexual Hysteria,
Physiognomical Bogeymen, and the 'Ghosts' in The Turn of the Screw." In
Henry James: The Turn of the Screw. Ed. Peter G. Beidler. Boston: Bedford
Books, 1995. 223-241. Renner asserts that what has previously been
considered a supernatural event in James' Turn of the Screw is actually a
psychological one. According to Renner, James was in fact using the
psychosis of the governess to comment on repressive Victorian sexual ideals
and their effects on individuals. Renner uses a little bit of biography to show
that James would have been familiar with "sexual hysteria", but the more
successful part of the article is his careful analysis of physiognomical
stereotyping in the Victorian Era. His central argument effectively links the
onset of the governess's sexual hysteria and hallucination with the influence
of Victorian assumptions about character and physical appearance.
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