Annotations

Research Proposal and Annotated Bibliography

The Research Proposal

By Tuesday, April 10, you will turn in your research proposal and annotated bibliography. The research proposal is a short statement (approximately 250 words) on the general area that you would like to investigate in your final research paper, a seven- to ten-page paper in which you present an argumentative analysis, supported by appropriate outside research, on an issue relating to your general area of inquiry for the semester.

Please keep in mind that the research proposal functions as your initial statement regarding your research project. As such, in your proposal you will not be expected to present a highly detailed argument regarding your topic; all that is expected is that you be able to establish clearly a general area of inquiry regarding that issue. However, you will be expected to present the following information:

1. an issue that you would like to investigate in your final paper;

2. why you find this issue compelling;

3. a general, preliminary argument based on that issue;

4. optional: a list of potential sources beyond those appearing in the annotated bibliography.

A good way to approach this assignment is to think of it as writing a very short paper on the issue(s) you’d like to investigate in more detail in the research paper, but present it as a proposal rather than an argument. As stated above, you will not be expected to present a highly detailed argument regarding your topic, but only a general indication of what you would like to investigate. The more detailed that you can be in terms of your argument, the better, but this is only an initial stage in the process of producing this paper, so your argument can and probably will evolve over the coming days and weeks based on further analysis and exploration of your thesis and also based on the influence of the sources that you look at.

If you do not submit an approved proposal, your professor will not accept your final paper and you will not receive credit for it.

The Annotated Bibliography

One of the exercises in which many scholars engage is that of the annotated bibliography. An annotated bibliography is simply a list of bibliographic entries that identifies and examines potential research sources by briefly summarizing those sources, determining how they might be used in one’s work, and assessing the potential effectiveness of those sources in one’s work. For this assignment you will write an annotated bibliography that identifies, summarizes, and/or evaluates at least three potential sources for your research paper. Note, however, that the appropriateness of a source may change depending on the development of your thesis, so even though you provide annotated bibliographic entries of three-plus sources, it is possible that one or several of those sources may not find their way into the final version of your paper.

Writing an annotated bibliography is an important exercise because it allows you to assess both the appropriateness of potential sources and also how these sources might fit into your final paper. Oftentimes, for instance, we don’t recognize the full value of a source, in part or whole, until we’ve taken the time to write about it and this will in turn aid you greatly in establishing how a source could or should be used. For example, if a source appears to have general application to your thesis or serves mainly as background information, writing an annotated bibliographic entry on that source will help you define its use in more specific terms. Likewise, if a secondary source is more specific in the information it presents, writing an annotated entry may help you determine precisely where in your paper it could function as relevant supporting information. Regardless as to whether a source is general or specific in its scope, writing an annotated entry on it will help you develop a more specific thesis and a more thorough discussion in your paper. For this assignment you are required to provide three annotated entries of 75 to 100 words each, only one of which may be a fully online source; the other two must be academic sources available in published, print versions. Also, a modicum of extra credit will be given for up to an additional three sources.

When writing an entry for an annotated bibliography, please be aware that it is not always required that you read the entire source. If your source is an article, it is recommended that you read it in its entirety, since the nature of articles is that of concise, condensed information. This may not always be necessary for longer sources such as books, however. It is perfectly acceptable for you to write about parts of books, such as chapters that you plan to use, so long as you provide the appropriate bibliographic information. Also note regarding books, the summary aspect of the bibliographic entry should describe the full scope of the work, but when determining how that book might be used and its potential effectiveness it is often necessary only to refer to parts of the book, such as appropriate chapters.

Feel free to consult the Gregg-Graniteville Library website for more specific strategies on writing an annotated bibliography. Another invaluable and highly recommended tool is the Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL).

Formatting and Assessment

The research proposal and annotated bibliography should be submitted as a single Word document. The proposal should appear first followed by the bibliography on a separate page(s). This assignment will constitute 10% of your final grade. Parameters for grading:

· clarity and precision in describing the current status of your topic and thesis;

· accuracy of bibliographic information;

· effectiveness of the annotations, including:

· effective summaries of the works;

· indication of the appropriateness of the sources;

· and a clear indication of how you intend to use the sources.

IMPORTANT NOTE: In your first three papers this semester, you were expected to provide documentation according to MLA guidelines. In your both your proposal/ bibliography and your research paper, however, you will use the documentation guidelines used in your academic discipline. Please indicate clearly somewhere at the top of your proposal which citation style you will be using for your assignments; you can include this as part of the submission information (name, class, etc.) or as part of the title of the document.

� For the purposes of this class, and “online” source is one for which an identical copy is not available in print. For example, a source from an online journal that does not have a print version is an online source. However, an article in the online version of the New York Times would NOT be an online source, even though it was retrieved online, because a print version is also available.

� The easiest way to access the Purdue OWL is to conduct a Google search using “Purdue online writing lab” as the keywords. The first couple of links listed should include the OWL homepage. Once there, conduct a search of the website for the topic on which you want information or simply noodle around—there is a treasure trove of information available there.