Assignment: ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Malcolm W. Campbell, Instructor UNCC English 1102 Spring 2013 Peer Review Date: Draft to me DUE: M/W: Wednesday, March 13 M/W: Monday, March 18 T/Th: Thursday, March 14 T/Th: Tuesday, March 19

Its the best of assignments; its the worst of assignments. This is the much-maligned annotated bibliography, the most formal academic paper youll write this semester (unless you compose an EIP thats a traditional argumentative essay). Most students dont like this assignment; those same students generally look back and understand how it helped them build research for their paper, shape the focus of their inquiry project, make them less-susceptible to believing everything they read, and prepare them for success in future classes, many of which require various forms of traditional academic-style citation and formatting. The PURPOSE of this Assignment is: To learn about your topic by asking questions, finding answers, asking more questions and so forth in order to identify the ongoing conversations about your topic, and to identify who are the big-wig, top dawg participants in the conversation(s). Youll make connections between your source by finding repetition of ideas, for cross-references of people/organizations/reports and research, and to support your own hunches, all of which will give you the gist of what folks are talking about related to your topic. To learn how to conduct academic research using the library for a variety of reliable sources, including peer-reviewed, scholarly articles; popular news source articles; reliable websites; and primary source material from interviews, surveys, or observations, to name a few. To improve your critical thinking by examining your topic from a variety of different sources that may not agree with each other. This is the ability to step back from a source and say Wait-a-dang-minute, this doesnt jive with what I think or with what some of my other sources say, and this heres why To read rhetorically, meaning to understand the context of any given source youre researching Who wrote it? For what audience and what purpose? When? In what publication? And where does this piece fit in the overall conversation about my topic? To read intelligently, meaning to determine how much time you need to spend with any given source, and in what ways to read it. Are you skimming for pertinent information? Are you going to read this several times because its an important and challenging source? Will you read actively, making notes on important concepts, ideas or where you have questions? Are you just looking for additional source material that you can go to from the articles bibliography or from people/organizations/reports mentioned in the text? (We read for specific reasons, just as we write for specific readings. This will be discussed in class and a Vodcast in more detail.) To summarize, paraphrase, and quote sources appropriately and accurately, without plagiarizing. Most of this is accomplished through practice, and careful note taking. In fact, a big goal is to improve your research note-taking skills. The AUDIENCE for this assignment: Your peers, yourself, and me, PLUS other persons interested in the topic, who will appreciate your contribution to the conversation and possibly, one day, quote you! Think that way, and youre well on your way into academic research.

Important Points about the Annotated Bibliography An annotated bibliography compiles citations to research sourcesbooks, articles, interviews, websites, YouTube videos, for exampleand includes an annotation. The citation is the bibliographic record for a source. We will use MLA format. A citation is important because in addition to giving proper credit to a source, it allows you, and your audience, to find a resource again. The library has an excellent resource about citations. Visit: http://guides.library.uncc.edu/CitationGuides The annotation is a written summary and evaluation of the sources content, author, medium (website, book, online news story, YouTube video, etc), audience, and more. You will prepare an annotated bibliography on your issue of inquiry that presents the complexity of your issue. In other words, your sources will present two or more sides of the conversation to show that youre finding solid material suggesting that civil disagreement exists over the topic and/or that there are no universally agreed upon answers to your inquiry question. One or more sources will provide evidence that important investigation/research remains to be done on the topic. You will select and think deeply about four sources. You will learn more about how to find reliable sources and how to summarize and correctly cite the sources you discover. The goal is also to improve your research skills and to begin discovering what people are saying about your issue. Just collecting and reading sources for a bibliography is useful, but when you have to write annotations for each source, you're forced to read more carefully, more critically. This assignment also enriches your knowledge about your topic. If done in a true spirit of curiosity, youll enjoy learning more about what interests you as you become an expert on the topic. In an annotated bibliography, you do not insert personal opinions about the topic. (You will give your opinion on the source and back up your opinion with support.) Your assignment is to be curious and to read and learn about your topic and to think about how your question(s) is/are changing and, perhaps, becoming more focused. To be complete, an annotation includes three elements. You must include each: 1. Summary: Annotations summarize the source. What type of source is it, and what is it about? If its a source with a point-of-view/position, what are the main points of the sources argument? What topics are covered? If someone asked what this article/book is about, what would you say? Your summary should cover the entire scope of the source. If you are using a chapter from a book, then you need to summarize the chapters scope and touch on the books overall coverage. For more help, see this link on paraphrasing sources: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_paraphr.html. Also, follow the link from this page to information about Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing. 2. Evaluation: Prepare a critical analysis of the source. What are the credentials of the author(s), and are they biased or objective? Here, you comment on the overall quality of the source by examining various components of the material. Is the information reliable? What kind of source is it: academic, popular, government, a website published by an association, etc? (You will also state this above, usually in the first sentence.) What is the purpose of this communication and who is the intended audience? How does it compare with other sources in your bibliography? One of the most thorough lists of critical questions Ive found for evaluating sources comes from Cornell Universitys website: http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/research/skill26.htm 3. Usefulness: After youve summarized and evaluated a source, ask how it fits into your research. Was this source helpful? How does it help shape your argument or understanding of the topic? Has it changed how you think about your topic? Will this source appear in your project? Why or why not?

How to Information & Sample Annotated Bibliographies

I recommend using Cornell Universitys How to Compose an Annotated Bibliography as a supplemental guide to what we do in class. Great information here on how to evaluate a source, too. Very important information! As with every assignment, youll find examples of UNCC students work. Check the resources section for Annotated Bibliographies for these.

Requirements
Locate, review and evaluate at least four (4) sources that address your topic. At least one (1) source must present one angle of your topic (this can be an argument for one side of your topic, or simply an alternative way of looking at the topic), and at least one (1) source must present another angle of your topic (this can be an argument against your previous source, or simply a different way of looking at the topic). Example: One source may argue that texting is beneficial in helping build healthy romantic relationships; another may argue that texting is harmful to building healthy romantic relationships. Or, one source might explore the psychological challenges that texting creates in a relationship, while another may focus more on the scientific aspect: how different regions in the brain are used for texting versus for face-to-face talking and what this might mean in communication?) Also, you must include at least one (1) of each of the following types of source materials: A developed article from a popular source. For example: a magazine, newspaper, news radio show (NPR.org is outstanding), or news TV show. Developed means of some length and with in-depth, significant source material, similar to the articles you read for annotations about YouTube, Wikipedia, Identity Theft, and Truth on the Net. The librarys link to quality databases for YOU is helpful: LINK. A scholarly or peer-reviewed journal article, meaning peers of the author (other professors/researchers) reviewed it to insure that it is legit. You will probably find this through the librarys databases. Understanding exactly what an academic source is can be confusing. Weve discussed in class, but PLEASE ask me if a source is academic if youre in doubt. Last note: a small number of topics may not have academic sources that cover the issue. If you cannot find a source, work with me and your peers to make sure nothing is available. If you are unable to locate one, see me before the assignment is due; otherwise, your annotated bibliography will be incomplete. A reliable website as a source. Your website should be related to your topic. For example, a reliable website for the effects of online communications on relationships might be the American Psychological Association, rather than a website that has a bunch of different articles, one of which is your topic. Your annotated bibliography must be prepared in the MLA Handbook style. Follow the citation rules for sources on a Works Cited page. We will discuss proper formatting in class, including going over common errors. Note that Ive placed on Moodle an MLA-formatted Annotated Bibliography Word Document if you wish to use it. Students requested this, so I designed it to make formatting easier.

Evaluation
Assessment criteria include meeting the assignments requirements, the correct MLA formatting of your annotated bibliography, and the quality of your annotations. Each annotation must have each of the three elements, and you must have the three required types of sources. Im looking for perceptive, clear and concise evaluations of your source materials that are free from careless errors. I will also consider the effort put into finding quality sources.

What Youll Upload & By When

Turn your printed Annotated Bibliography copy DUE TO ME at the start of class on the due date, and also upload your WORD copy to Moodle before 11:55 pm on the due date. (See Pre-formatted Annotated Bibliography document for help.) Not Required: Reflective Letter Create a reflection entry in your daybook so youll recall what this assignment was lik e for your end-of-the-semester reflective letter. How did this assignment go? Was it helpful, or not? Why?

Do not save this assignment for the last minute. Like, dont procrastinate.