Annotated Bibliography 5 sources/paragraphs

Samples for an annotated bibliography

Remember: There are two parts to every entry in an annotated bibliography: the citation and the annotation.

In the sample annotation below, each element is numbered (see Key).

(1) Trevor, C.O., Lansford, B. and Black, J.W. “Employee turnover and job performance: monitoring the influences of salary growth and promotion.” Journal of Armchair Psychology, vol 113, no.1, 2004, 56-64. (2.) In this article Trevor et al. review the influences of pay and job opportunities in respect to job performance, turnover rates and employee motivation. (3) The authors use data gained through organisational surveys of blue-chip companies in Vancouver, Canada to try to identify the main causes of employee turnover and whether it is linked to salary growth. (4) Their research focuses on assessing a range of pay structures such as pay for performance and organisational reward schemes. (5) The article is useful to my research topic, as Trevor et al. suggest that there are numerous reasons for employee turnover and variances in employee motivation and performance. (6) The main limitation of the article is that the survey sample was restricted to mid-level management, (7) thus the authors indicate that further, more extensive, research needs to be undertaken to develop a more in-depth understanding of employee turnover and job performance. (8) This article will not form the basis of my research; however it will be useful supplementary information for my research on pay structures.

Key (1) Citation (2) Introduction (3) Aims & Research methods (4) Scope (5) Usefulness (to your research/ to a particular topic) (6) Limitations (7) Conclusions (8) Reflection (explain how this work illuminates your topic or how it will fit in with your research)

Gilbert, Pam. “From Voice to Text: Reconsidering Writing and Reading in the

English Classroom.” English Education 23.4 (1991): 195-211.

Gilbert provides some insight into the concept of “voice” in textual interpretation, and points to a need to move away from the search for voice in reading. Her reasons stem from a growing danger of “social and critical illiteracy,” which might be better dealt with through a move toward different textual understandings. Gilbert suggests that theories of language as a social practice can be more useful in teaching. Her ideas seem to disagree with those who believe in a dominant voice in writing, but she presents an interesting perspective.

Greene, Stuart. “Mining Texts in Reading to Write.” Journal of Advanced Composition 12.1 (1992): 151-67.

This article works from the assumption that reading and writing inform each other, particularly in the matter of rhetorical constructs. Greene introduces

the concept of “mining texts” for rhetorical situations when reading with a sense of authorship. Considerations for what can be mined include language, structure, and context, all of which can be useful depending upon the writer’s goals. The article provides some practical methods that compliment Doug Brent’s ideas about reading as invention.

Murray, Donald M. Read to Write: A Writing Process Reader. Forth Worth: Holt,

Rinehart, and Winston, 1987.

Murray’s book deals more specifically with the ways writers read other writers, particularly the ways in which writers read themselves. Read to Write provides a view of drafting and revising, focusing on the way a piece of writing evolves as an author takes the time to read and criticize his or her own work. Moreover, the book spotlights some excellent examples of professional writing and displays each writer’s own comments on their own creations, in effect allowing the student reader to learn (by reading) the art of rereading and rewriting as exemplified by famous authors.

Newell, George E. “The Effects of Between-Draft Responses on Students Writing and Reasoning About Literature.” Written Communication 11.3 (1994): 311-47.

This study reflects the advantage of teacher responses on student papers. When reflected upon as “dialogue” questions to the student, these comments can lead to further interpretation and deeper understanding of a text. Newell found that responses which prompted students to work from their initial drafts brought about more final papers than teacher responses that led them away from their initial drafts with “directive” remarks.

Lamott, Anne. Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. New York: Anchor Books, 1995. Print.

Lamott's book offers honest advice on the nature of a writing life, complete with its insecurities and failures. Taking a humorous approach to the realities of being a writer, the chapters in Lamott's book are wry and anecdotal and offer advice on everything from plot development to jealousy, from perfectionism to struggling with one's own internal critic. In the process, Lamott includes writing exercises designed to be both productive and fun.

Lamott offers sane advice for those struggling with the anxieties of writing, but her main project seems to be offering the reader a reality check regarding writing, publishing, and struggling with one's own imperfect humanity in the process. Rather than a practical handbook to producing and/or publishing, this text is indispensable because of its honest perspective, its down-to-earth humor, and its encouraging approach.

Chapters in this text could easily be included in the curriculum for a writing class. Several of the chapters in Part 1 address the writing process and would serve to generate discussion on students' own drafting and revising processes. Some of the writing exercises would also be appropriate for generating classroom writing exercises. Students should find Lamott's style both engaging and enjoyable.

In the sample annotation above, the writer includes three paragraphs: a summary, an evaluation of the text, and a reflection on its applicability to his/her own research, respectively.

Brown, Lester R.  Plan B: Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble.  New York: Norton, 2003.

           

In this book available both in print and online, Brown argues that our current practices have created an environmental “bubble economy” that is unsustainable.  After several chapters detailing our current problems, he suggests a number of economic and environmental reforms, among them decreasing carbon emissions, increasing energy efficiency, and reforming the tax code to encourage more environmentally sound practices.  The book discusses each reform in a separate chapter.

Shinn, Thelm J. “Living the Answer:” The Emergence of African American Feminist Drama.” Studies in the Humanities 17 (1990): 149-159.

In addition to plays by Hansberry, Childress, and Shange, the article discusses Kennedy’s plays. The focus on strong female characters by these playwrights shows the gender tensions within black society. According to Shinn, Kennedy, by emphasizing “the multiplicity of the inner self,” shows that these tensions must be “confronted internally” and then “integrated” (157). Shinn notes that Kennedy has shifted to an expressionist form to make these points (as opposed to the more realistic forms of Hansberry and Childress.) I found the points made in this article to be fairly obvious and not very helpful.

Sollors, Werner. “Owls and Rats in the American Funnyhouse: Adrienne Kennedy’s Drama.” American Literature: A Journal of Literary History, Criticism, and Bibliography 63 (1991): 507-32.

Sollors summarizes seven of Kennedy’s plays, paying particular attention to their imagery, especially the animal imagery. He draws from her autobiography to explicate the text of her plays, explaining what associations she had with some of the images. Sollors provides a good analysis of the structure of Funnyhouse, saying that the repetition and the imagery provide a clear structure with three major rhetorical units: the “returning father,” the “Roman ruins,” and the “African saviour” (515). These units create a “rhythm...that deepens the themes of conflictual heritage, failed self-recognition, mission, sacrifice, decline, murder, and suicide without resolving these issues” (516). This is a good introductory essay, but not an in depth discussion of any one idea. Funnyhouse is discussed in the most detail.

Zinman, Toby Silverman. “‘In the presence of mine enemies’: Adrienne Kennedy’s An Evening with Dead Essex.’’ Studies in American Drama, 1945-Present 6 (1991): 3-13.

Zinman analyzes the play in terms of “presence” and absence” of the characters, but as he says, not in as complex a manner as they are used to in the theories of Lacan, Saussure, and Derrida. He contends that the real subject of the play is absent (Essex) and that Kennedy has not found “a satisfying way to present absence on stage” in this play (12). In particular, according to Zihman, Kennedy’s use of realism limits the play to the “socially possible,” which are the same “forces the play intensely opposes” (8). The article was interesting, but I’m still not sure what a satisfactory absence would be.