Essay Three: Annotated Bibliography

Assignment Three:

The Annotated Bibliography

Description:
To prepare to write the proposal argument, you will first compile an annotated bibliography of at least ten (10) sources that summarizes current research on your proposal topic. This means that you will find, summarize, and evaluate ten different sources that provide information on your topic and arrange this information into an organized list BEFORE you begin to write the actual proposal argument.

Composition:
If you’ve never seen an annotated bibliography before, you’ll want to follow the links below and consider some different models and examples. Annotated bibliographies focus on one research topic, pulling together and listing different sources related to that topic (web sites, print and online journal articles, books, historical documents, primary documents, and other materials). In addition to providing full bibliographic information about each source (where and when it was published, for instance), annotated bibliographies also extract key information about the ideas in each source for readers, summarizing main points and also evaluating each source’s credibility and relevance. They provide researchers with up-to-date summaries of what’s been written on topics they wish to explore. Compiling your own annotated bibliography will 1) familiarize you with existing research on your proposal topic, and 2) prepare you to research and write about any topic in the future.

For our project, you’ll need to find varied sources of information: books; newspaper, magazine, or journal articles; web sites; personal interviews; notes from lectures or films; or historical documents (speeches, correspondence, etc). You should find sources that are not already required reading for this course, and at least one should involve primary (firsthand) research, such as interviews, surveys, questionnaires, or observations. Annotated bibliographies generally follow style guidelines (such as APA, Chicago, or MLA). We will use MLA style guidelines (as explained in the Prentice Hall Guide) for ours.

Many annotated bibliographies simply list sources in alphabetical order. You can choose your own system and categories if this seems helpful to you. Whatever you do, organize your sources so that your readers can understand how you are thinking about the information, keeping sources within any sub-categories in alphabetical order (for ease of reading). For example, you can group your sources by subject, by the position the authors take, by the type of source (article vs. book), by date, by the kind of information presented (qualitative, quantitative, anecdotal), etc. Choose the organizing principle that makes the most sense and corresponds most closely to the way you are thinking about the material. Each annotation should be preceded by the complete bibliographic information for the source (see samples).

The following websites provide further explanations and samples of annotated bibliographies:

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/print/general/gl_annotatedbib.html

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/print/general/gl_annotatedbibEX.html


Format for Turning in the Annotated Bibliography

Part 1: The Rationale
Before your list of sources, your bibliography needs a brief introduction (500 words minimum) that explains your rationale for the project. Start by listing your research question, but also explain the following— the scope and range of your sources, how you organized them in your bibliography, where you located them, any problems you encountered while conducting research, any sources that you did not manage to include but would still like to use in your final project, any gaps that you noticed in the research, and any preliminary conclusion you have reached based on your research thus far.

Part 2: The Annotations Themselves
In addition to complete bibliographic information, each annotation should contain 1) a summary of the source, and 2) an evaluation of the source (using criteria such as completeness, comprehensiveness, clarity of presentation, point of view presented, level of detail, quality and quantity of research). Annotations should be approximately 100 to 150 words each. Be selective about how much information you include so that you give readers a clear idea of what the source is about without overwhelming them with too much detail.

Begin each annotation by briefly summarizing the overall claim, scope, and subject of the source. Next, evaluate the source in terms of how well it fulfills its purpose and point out any limitations that it might have. Consider questions such as:

• How complete is the information presented?
• Is the author an expert on the subject?
• What kind of information does the author present: statistical, personal/anecdotal?
• How does the kind of information presented affect the quality and significance of the work?
• Does the source present flawed information?
• Are the conclusions reached consistent with the information presented?
• Does the author support all the claims made with evidence?
• Does the source present accurate and up-to-date information?
• Does the source cite information from other sources?

The sources you collect will help you draw conclusions about your research topic and support the argument you will make in your proposal. You might not quote or paraphrase from every annotated source in your final project, and you might add others that you did not include in the annotated bibliography. Don’t worry too much about that now—just focus on finding good information and demonstrating that you can critically evaluate the usefulness and relevance of what you find. We will discuss your ongoing research progress regularly in class.