Annotated bibliography

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ENGL 1302

Summer 2020

Annotated Bibliography

Major Assignment 1: The Annotated Bibliography

What is an Annotated Bibliography? An annotated bibliography is a list of citations (appropriately formatted!) of books, websites, articles, and documents that includes a summary of the text. The purpose of the annotation is to inform the reader about the content of the text. In other words, use those summary skills!

Assignment: This assignment asks you to create an annotated bibliography on “Effects of Social Media on American Adolescents” for 7 sources . Your annotated bibliography will contain three (3) peer reviewed journal articles and four (4) credible other sources of any mode. Encyclopedias and dictionaries do not count for this assignment. (That means no Wiki pages!)

Your sources should not just cover one “side” of your issue’s argument. If, say, you are writing the paper on whether or not college athletes should be paid a salary, several of your sources should be “for” and several should be “against.”

Purpose: As a researcher, you are becoming an expert on your topic: you are developing the ability to explain the content of your sources and share this information with others who may be less familiar with them. One goal of this annotated bibliography is to promote your critical reading of sources. Another is to develop your skills in effective internet and library research. This assignment will also give you practice in properly citing and documenting sources in compliance with the rules of MLA documentation system. Properly citing your sources is part of what you will be graded on in this assignment.

How to Approach this Assignment:

Step 1: While preparing this assignment, print out important texts, mark them up, noting useful information and taking notes. One of the challenges of doing research is that information and/or websites change and can disappear. Printing out documents is absolutely essential for a successful paper that does not involve a lot of wasted time searching for information you had at another time.

Step 2: Write the bibliographic entry for your source according to MLA guidelines. Under this entry you will write the annotation (see below). Each of your annotations should be 1 paragraph between 225 and 300 words long. Follow the guidelines below for each entry.

1) Cite the source using MLA style. (To do this, ask yourself what type of publication your source is: is it a webpage? A scholarly journal article? A newspaper article? Find out what type of source it is, then do a Google search for “MLA citation for newspaper article” or “MLA citation for scholarly journal article.” Find a model that shows you how to create your citation and follow that model. The Owl Purdue website can also be a great resource for this type of work).

2) Write a 1-paragraph summary of the source (as discussed/practiced in class)

Step 3: Revise, edit, and proofread your draft. As always, be sure to re-read the instructions you’ve been given (this assignment sheet).

Grading Criteria:

60% Topic Development:

—The document includes the required number and types of sources

—Each citation is of the appropriate length (between 225 and 300 words long)

—The summary of each source abides by all of the criteria regarding summary writing discussed in class

—The selected sources are all relevant to one topic.

—The selected sources represent views from both “sides” of your chosen issue

—The annotation provides an accurate and comprehensive summary of the relevant content of the source in your own words, avoiding too-close paraphrasing and unnecessary direct quotation

40% Presentation:

—The annotations should conform to conventions regarding grammar, punctuation, spelling, and mechanics (things like capitalization, italics, abbreviations, presentation of numbers).

—The bibliographic entry should conform to MLA guidelines for a Works Cited entry (8th edition for MLA)

—All paraphrases and quotations must be properly cited according to MLA or APA guidelines, using attributive tags, quotation marks, and parenthetical citations.

—The Title of the paper indicates not only the community you’ll be studying but also the issue you’ll be investigating and eventually making a claim about (you do not necessarily need to have your claim/argument ready by the time you complete this paper).