How to for Annotated Bibliography Cards
- 1). Determine what information is required for an accurate reference according to MLA format. For books, include the author, title, publisher and date and place of publication. For articles, add the article title, edition of publication and page numbers. Consult an MLA Format reference guide for details on citing other sources such as Internet sites, interviews, encyclopedias or online databases.
- 2). Write the author's name on the first line of the card beginning in the top, left-hand corner. List the author's last name first, followed by a comma and then his first name followed by a period. Capitalize both the first and last names.
- 3). Write the title of the book or article immediately following the author's name. For books, underline the title, capitalize all words except for articles and prepositions, and place a period at the end of the title. For articles, put an open quotation mark at the beginning of the title and a period at the end followed by a closing quotation mark. The name of the periodical or publication follows the article title. Underline the publication title and place a period at the end.
- 4). List publication information immediately following the title. For books, list the place of publication, a colon, the publisher's name, a comma, the year of publication and then a period. For articles, list the date of publication, a colon and the page number(s) on which the article can be found.
- 5). Write a short phrase or sentence summarizing the information you found in the source as it relates to the paper. This information is what makes the card an annotated bibliography card.
- 6). Enter additional information as needed. Some cards include the student's or writer's name, the library's name and catalog reference number, or other helpful information for locating the source in the future.
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