English 6/27

Writing Assignment: Annotated Bibliography Assignment

Introduction: For this assignment, students will construct an annotated bibliography on a problem in their field of study. An annotated bibliography is a list of source citations with notes about the sources.

The Assignment:  Your goal is to construct an annotated bibliography by drafting three annotations with citations. The sources should refer to a problem in your field of study. It is preferable for students to write about the same problem from the Cause and Effect paper, but students are allowed to change problems if necessary. Specific instructions for completing the assignment are provided below.

Resources:

· Download a PDF copy of the Module 5 Annotated Bibliography Assignment.

· At least three credible sources

Acceptable Length: All three annotations must include:

· a full citation for the piece being annotated.

· Refer to pages pgs. 160-174 in The Little Seagull for citation models.

· Another great resource for citation models is The OWL at Purdue’s MLA Formatting and Style Guide. (Right-click → Open in New Window)

· one paragraph describing the credibility criteria from 3a-3h in the “Specific Guidelines.”

· one paragraph describing the source’s usefulness in your Argument Essay

· a total of about 150 words (both paragraphs combined).

· Much less and you risk not including enough detail to be useful.

· Much more and you risk negating the usefulness of the annotated bibliography as a quick reference.

Formatting Requirements:

· Use MLA formatting in a Google Document.

· All sources must contain a full MLA formatted citation. Full details for citation can be found in Cengage.

· Another resource for MLA format citation models is the OWL at Purdue’s MLA Formatting and Style Guide (Right click → Open Link in New Tab)

Grading Criteria:

· To get full credit, the Module 5 Annotated Bibliography should be:

· at least 500 words on the assigned topic.

· a minimum of six paragraphs (two per annotation).

· in MLA Format

· your original work. The purpose of using outside sources is to support your ideas, not to provide the actual content of your paper.

· I will use the ENG 111 Annotated Bibliography Rubric to grade the final draft of the assignment.

Specific Guidelines:

· Follow these guidelines to the best of your ability.

1. Choose three credible sources that you plan to use in your Argument Essay.

1. Use at least one internet source and at least one peer reviewed source.

1. Create a full, correct MLA Style citation for each source.

2. Answer the following questions about your source. If you do not know an answer to a question, write that the information is missing.

1. Who wrote the article?

2. What education and experience does the author have to qualify him or her to write about this subject?

3. What organization owns the web page or what is the name of the publication?

4. Is the information up-to-date? How do you know?

5. Does the article contain an unfair bias? Why or why not?

6. Who is the target audience for the article (general public, students, experts)?

7. Was the article meant to simply present information or convince the readers to do something or change their perspective?

8. Does this article have a low, medium, or high level of credibility? Explain your choice by referring to the answers to the above questions.

1. Add a second paragraph describing the source’s usefulness for your argument paper.

2. Repeat steps 2-4 for the remainder of your sources.

3. Download the final draft of your Annotated Bibliography in Microsoft Word file format. [File → Download as → Microsoft Word (.docx)].

4. Upload the document to the SafeAssign link in Module 5.

The following is an example of a solid annotation for an article from a famous newspaper:

Porter, Alfonzo. “The Problem with Technology in Schools.” The Washington Post, 28 Jan. 2013, https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/therootdc/post/the-problem-with-technology-in-schools/2013/01/28/cf13dc6c-6963-11e2-ada3-d86a4806d5ee_blog.html.

        Alfonzo Porter, the author of this piece, is a former teacher who now writes for The Washington Post, a well-known newspaper. This article is current because it was first published in January of 2013. Porter presents both sides of the issue of technology in schools, but he is slightly biased in that he dedicates a greater amount of his discussion to describing the negatives to having technology in schools. The bias is not extreme or unfair, however. His purpose seems to be to inform the general public about a current debate in education because

of the publication of recent survey results by Pew. This source has a medium level of credibility because it was written by an expert and from a reliable newspaper, but the piece has not been peer-reviewed.

        This article will be useful in my argumentative piece because it provides background on both sides of the debate about technology use in schools. I am arguing for more appropriate technology use in schools, so I will need background of supporters because it will provide context for my recommendation. I will also need the background of those who oppose technology in schools because I will use it in my refutation. Also, the author provided a link to access the data he describes in the article.