Requirement Adequatelyneeds Work Bibliography Pl

Essay #2: The Annotated Bibliography

For Paper #2, you will write an annotated bibliography of your selected research topic (approval of which must come from me through the homework assignment.) It’s much too early in the process to know where you are going, but that’s what the research is for, to help guide you toward the future papers in the project.

The basic purpose of an annotated bibliography is to examine the larger scholarly conversation happening around you. What do scholars or other writers say about your topic? What particular focus do they hone in on? By examining the breadth of the conversation, you can find your own place within the broader conversation and construct a thesis later.

You should perform annotations of at least 10 sources on your topic. If your topic is particularly new and little research has been completed on it, then see me and we can negotiate a number. Your sources should primarily be peer-reviewed, academic journals, databases, and books. You may also include political commentaries, so long as both sides are represented. Your sources should NOT come from a Google source unless the result comes from a .EDU webpage, or a website that is fully reputable like a company website, or a reputable organization, such as the Huffington Post. I do not want to see any About.com, Yahoo Answers, or Ask.com sources, for example. No matter what, most of your sources should come from WVU’s library databases. My rule is 51% professional sources and 49% everything else. Think of a good bibliography as a healthy garden: a garden will stagnate if it has too much of any one crop. Thus, you should incorporate a healthy mixture of journal articles, books, websites, etc. You especially want to find sources that represent both sides of the topic; you are not yet out to “prove” a point one way or the other, but to examine and collect data on the debates at hand. One valuable strategy for finding good sources involves looking at a valuable source’s works cited page: who is he/she citing? This will help you identify the history of the scholarship in your field.

An annotation asks you to summarize the article to its extent. What is the article’s conclusion/argument? What premises does the author use to support his/her argument? Then, the annotation asks you to think critically about the source. How valuable was the source in shaping your thinking on the subject? How do you see yourself incorporating it? Is the source particularly new as far as date? (Something from the last 5 years?)

The bibliography should roughly be four to five pages in length. Each annotation should be anywhere from 6-10 sentences, paragraph length.

DO NOT write this paper in an essay format. It’s not an essay in the traditional sense; please look carefully at the examples.

The bibliography final for now is due on Tuesday, July 13, by 11:59 PM. I must have your topic verified by Thursday, July 8; post your topic pitch to the discussion board. Once your topic is approved, start researching! I posted a video tutorial covering how to find materials in WVU’s library databases. Before Friday, July 5, complete the citation exercise activity in our learning module. I posted a video covering how to cite sources through either the Purdue OWL or your Easy Writer text. A peer review of your first six sources will occur on Monday, July 8.

*If you have any questions, please e-mail me for clarification or discussion.
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