Unc Chapel Hill Writing Impact Of Human And Cultu
- Choose a concept from your assigned chapter (SEE THE ATTACHED FILE)
- Explain the concept in your own words, and briefly explain why you find it interesting
- Conduct research
- Develop a thesis statement (Links to an external site.)
- Engage in a critical review and feedback process designed to:
- hone students’ abilities to engage in constructive and professional criticism necessary in most workplace settings;
- help peers improve and polish their work prior to submitting to a public audience; and
- Help students improve, revise (Links to an external site.), and polish their own work through the process of determining what they find well or poorly done in the work of others.
- Write an annotated bibliography (Links to an external site.) of your sources
Step 1: Choose and summarize your concept
After re-reading your assigned chapter, choose one concept that you find interesting in some way. It may be something you wish to know more about, something that you want to understand better, something that bothered you, something you found fascinating, etc.
Once you have chosen the concept you want to write about, summarize the concept in your own words. You may wish to look up additional resources to help you understand the concept more clearly. In any event, you should offer in-text citations (Links to an external site.) for whatever sources you use to write your summary (full citations not necessary for this part).
As part of your summary, explain why this concept interests you.
Step 2: Conduct research
Next, you will conduct research. You must locate two credible sources outside of your textbook. One of your credible sources will agree with the perspective offered by the author of your textbook. The other credible source will disagree with the perspective offered by the author of your textbook. If you have exhausted all resources and simply cannot find sources of opposing/different perspectives, then you must choose another concept.
Read the UNC Chapel Hill Writing Center Handout on “Evaluating Print Sources,” (Links to an external site.)and utilize the CRAAP Test (Links to an external site.) to ensure that you are using credible sources. Sources that are not found to be credible will result in an evaluation of 0 for that part of the grading rubric.
Step 3: Annotated Bibliography (Links to an external site.)
Now that you have gathered all your resources, you will develop an annotated bibliography. Your bibliography will include only 3 entries:
- Your textbook
- Credible source that agrees
- Credible source that disagrees
Include the information below, and structure accordingly:
- Name of author(s); date published; title of work; organization that published the work (e.g., book publisher, government organization, journal name, etc.)
- Type of source (e.g., academic article, book, government or organizational report, etc.)
- Full APA (Links to an external site.) source citation (provide a complete APA (Links to an external site.) style citation that is consistent with the source type and APA (Links to an external site.) guidelines for that particular source type; utilize the resources suggested to you to properly complete this step)
- Bibliographic annotation (100-150 words, required for all 3 sources).
Your bibliographic annotations must:
- Summarize the central idea (argument/thesis) of the source
- Briefly explain the qualifications of the source (author(s), organization, etc.) to speak as an authority on the topic
- Describe what the resource is (e.g., if the resource is a report, explain what the report covers, why it was made, what audience it is intended for, etc.; if the resource is a book, explain what the book is about, what it covers, what audience it is intended for, etc.) and how the resource is useful to your essay
Step 4: Thesis Statement (Links to an external site.)
Now that you have a firm grip on your concept and the adjacent and opposing arguments, you will develop your thesis statement. Starting with a strong, well-informed thesis statement (Links to an external site.)will help you with the overall organization and clarity of your essay.
As you are writing your essay, you may find that your essay does not go in the direction you expected, or perhaps you will change your mind regarding your position on your concept. That is fine, and you can amend your thesis statement. In fact, most authors end up amending their thesis statements after they have completed their work to more accurately reflect the end result of the writing process. However, starting with a strong, clear thesis will help anchor your essay and focus your writing.
Step 5: Organize your prewriting assignment and submit
Organize your prewriting assignment as laid out above.
- Clearly label each section for easy identification
- Remember that this prewriting assignment is not an essay, and should not be organized as such