An Annotated Bibliography
Assignment 4: Literature review: an annotated bibliography
This assignment will give you practice in the research skills locating appropriate, credible, and balanced sources; synthesizing a variety of sources; interpreting the connections between sources; and using proper MLA documentation. You must use 6-8 credible sources in this paper. The primary purpose of this report is to bring together various sources to build a better understanding of a topic related to your final research project. Thus, your main purpose is to inform on the significance of the articles you have selected. That said, you will need to go a bit beyond summary in that you will interpret different sources and may decide to conclude by explaining your interpretation of what these sources together tell you/us about the topic. (See sample annotated bibliography on D2L)
Organize your sources alphabetically and provide complete bibliographical data.
Write, in your own words, a summary of your source. What is the writer's position and how is it supported? You may include a few short quotes, but, for the most part, this should be a summary.
Write an evaluation of the validity and appropriateness of the text to your project. Does the text support/contradict/complicate your attitude toward your subject? Relate it to other texts, raise questions. Indicate how you might use it in your paper.
Grading
/30 You present an objective view of the topic through your article choices; the articles you chose give interesting perspectives on your topic and give adequate and valuable support of ideas. Your paper presents strong evidence of critical reading and understanding of the sources and the connections between them (how similar or different they are)
/30 You chose good ideas to compare and contrast and show that you have really thought about those ideas and clearly demonstrate comparison and contrast skills. You are able to understand and present as well as analyze new ideas and draw conclusions from them, show how those ideas relate to one another, ask questions, and find answers. Plans for future research are clear
/30 Your paper has an excellent organization of information. Citations are in correct, MLA format
/10 The spelling and grammar are without problems; the sentence construction has a nice variety; the vocabulary is excellent; your paper follows the discussed rules of mechanics (punctuation) and format (as explained in class and online). Your annotation includes 8 credible articles.
