Overview

An annotated bibliography is a list of sources that includes bibliographic citations (MLA-formatted citations like you would find on a Works Cited page), summaries, and additional information for each source. You will use these sources that you find while creating your annotated bibliography to support the argument you will make in your Final Research Paper.

Instructions

• Your assignment for the Final Research Paper is to write a persuasive essay that first identifies a specific problem of your choice, identifies two to three solutions to the problem, and evaluates and defends the effectiveness of the solutions that you presented, ultimately arguing for the audience to accept your best solution. In addition, you should include refutation to address objections to your best solution as well as to respond to and refute alternative solutions. Search for sources that help you to accomplish these tasks.

The assignment is to annotateeight sources.Twoof these sources should be a book (print or ebook) or reference text (e.g. an encyclopedia)you may not use Wikipedia as a sourcefor this assignment. In addition,fourof these sources should be periodicals (e.g., journals, magazines, or newspapers), which are available in print, online, or from databases. Two of these four periodical sources should be from peer-reviewed (scholarly) journals. Finally, at leasttwoof your sources should be electronic (e.g., online journals, databases, or websites), although I suspect for most of you, all of your sources will be from electronic sources. The remaining sources can be of any type you like. Note: I encourage you to find more than eight sources for use in your Final Research Paper; however, for the Annotated Bibliography assignment, please annotate only eight.

• Examine the elephant from numerous perspectives. Be sure to find sources that reflect a variety of positions regarding your topic. You should find three or more sources that disagree with the positions taken in your other sources. You will then be asked to analyze and evaluate the solutions, so you will need sources that help you to critique the viability and effectiveness of each solution.

For each source, first include the "Type of Source" (worth 1.5 points). In other words, use the title of the model that you used from the "List of MLA Works Cited Models" on pages 134-37 in A Pocket Style Manual. Then, provide the Modern Language Association citation using the models from that directory (worth 4 points). Next, write a three- to five-sentence summary of your source (worth 5 points). The summary should establish why the source is credible, identify what the position of the text is, and describe briefly the reasoning and support provided. Finally, for the "Contribution," write 1-2 sentences suggesting how you might use this source in your essay (worth 2 points). See the accompanying handout below for a visual example of how each of your citations should look.

• Remember to format the MLA citation properly. The citation should be double spaced. The second and subsequent lines of each entry should use a hanging indent of five spaces. Imitate the formatting in the model below.

Pay attention to how I wrote the model summary. First, be sure to use a signal phrase to identify the source of the information and to establish the credibility of the source. If the source does not have an author, be sure to establish the credibility of the institution responsible for the information. For example, if I was citing an editorial by theNew York Timesthat did not include a specific author's name, I could still emphasize how and why the newspaper itself is credible. After you introduce the source and establish credibility, be sure to acknowledge the text's thesis. If the source is informative rather than argumentative (and therefore, does not have a thesis), you should still identify the main focus of the text. Finally, be sure to reference the key reasons and main types of support used in the text.

• In the Contribution section, be very specific about how you plan on using the source in your Final Research Paper. Do not simply state that you can use the source to back up your argument. This is obvious. Feel free to imitate the sentence structure from the model if it helps you to be precise about how you will use the source.

Remember: you should be summarizing the source in your own words! If you cut and paste exact language into the summary, you will be guiltyof plagiarizing(Links to an external site.), and you will receive a zero on that entry. It is acceptable to use very brief quotations in your summary if necessary, but any exact language must be placed in quotations. See the model summary for an example. For a review of summarizing, paraphrasing, and quoting, seeA Pocket Style Manual Section 31 Integrating Sources. Pay close attention to Section 31b "Limiting your use of quotations" on p. 119.

• You do not necessarily have to read an entire source, like a book, in order to annotate it. Read synoptically. In other words, skim the source. Read the title, look at the table of contents, and read the preface or introductory chapter as well as the initial paragraphs of each chapter and the conclusion. For shorter sources, like articles, it may be simpler just to read the entire text.

Organize your sources alphabeticallyin the same order that you would present them on your Works Cited page.