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Cite, Organize and Share Your Research
The MLA Handbook, Eighth Edition does not include guidelines for formatting an annotated bibliography. However, your professor may assign an annotated bibliography in MLA style. The annotated bibliography contains descriptive or evaluative comments about your sources. Each citation should adhere to MLA guidelines. Begin your comments immediately following the citation. The title might be 'Annotated Bibliography' or 'Annotated List of Works Cited'.
Your instructor may request an annotated bibliography in order to evaluate the types of sources you are selecting for your research. The annotations should show that you have carefully conducted your research and critically analyzed the information you will use to write your paper. The good news is that the 'Works Cited' list will be almost complete before you begin writing. Below is an example of an annotated bibliography in MLA style.
You may be asked to prepare a literature review as an assignment, but more likely you are going to be expected to include a literature review as part of the introduction to your research paper. Properly done, a literature review is more than an annotated bibliography or summary of research articles. Your literature review should inform your readers of significant past research in your specialized topic, but also highlight critical issues, areas where research is lacking, or novel applications that your research is going to explore.
For some helpful tips on how to get started doing a literature review, see the University of Toronto Library's The Literature Review: A Few Tips on Conducting it.