mkt2

Topic:

Problem Statement:

My Research Perspective (descriptive paragraph):

Annotated Bibliography Overview: Working from the topic, your assignment will be to develop an annotated bibliography containing at least FOUR academic sources as well as a discussion of what you learned from your research.

What is an annotated bibliography? An annotated bibliography includes a summary and evaluation of each source you have reviewed and intend to use for your research – consider it a mini-report on the sources you have read/used in your investigation of a topic. Annotations are typically written in paragraph form and for the purposes of this class should include the following information:

1. A full citation of the source (this CANNOT be a hyperlink)!!

2. A copy/past of the abstract of the article/source.

3. An explanation of the main purpose of the source. What is the goal of the paper/article as you read it?

4. A short summary of key findings or arguments of the source

5. The academic/intellectual credentials of the source. Does it appear in a peer-reviewed journal? Is the author someone who has expertise in the area? Can you tell?

6. Any shortcomings or biases you notice (as you know BIAS is HUGE in research)

7. The value of this work as a contribution to the topic you’re exploring. (how does this specifically impact or inform what your group is doing/researching/thinking about?)

A little background on annotated bibliography!

What good is it?

There are a number of great online resources that can help you with this project – such as the DePaul Writing Center and The Online Writing Lab at Purdue University (owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/) which both have terrific explanations of the value of annotated bibliographies. Quoted verbatim from the Purdue site:

To learn about your topic: Writing an annotated bibliography is excellent preparation for a research project. Just collecting sources for a bibliography is useful, but when you have to write annotations for each source, you're forced to read each source more carefully. You begin to read more critically instead of just collecting information. At the professional level, annotated bibliographies allow you to see what has been done in the literature and where your own research or scholarship can fit.

To help you formulate a thesis: Every good research paper is an argument. The purpose of research is to state and support a thesis. So a very important part of research is developing a thesis that is debatable, interesting, and current. Writing an annotated bibliography can help you gain a good perspective on what is being said about your topic. By reading a variety of sources on a topic, you'll start to see what the issues are, what people are arguing about, and you'll then be able to develop your own point of view.

How do I get started? This project will work best if you proceed in several steps.

1. Create a list of sources that seem directly relevant to the topic. Look at the online library holdings. Your goal here is to get a broad sense of what academic information is out there on your topic. Remember that you want academic sources. As you develop your list of sources, you’ll probably narrow or tweak your topic in order to make the list manageable. While you must end up with five academic articles, all of which are directly relevant to your topic, your initial list may well have many more sources.

2. Narrow your initial list of sources down to 5-10. Your primary goal here is to choose sources that address your topic directly. The best way to do that is by reading the abstracts. When possible, choose sources that reflect a variety of perspectives on your topic. Choose newer sources over older ones as a general rule (NOTHING later than 2010 should be used for this assignment unless you can make an EXCELLENT argument why is it applicable to explaining the current state of plastic pollution)

3. Read and annotate your sources. See the first page for a list of the information required in each of your annotated bibliographies.

The fine print All annotations must be in paragraph form and use complete sentences. All sources must be cited (I do not care WHICH type of citation you use as long as it is consistent). Pages must be numbered and should be proof-read carefully for clarity, organization, spelling, and grammar. This will go through turnitin so do NOT be tempted to copy/paste anything other than the abstract. The paragraphs and summaries should be in your own words! Finally, your document must be in Word, not PDF format (for turnitin).

Good Luck!