Senior Sem // Hauman // fall 2017

Annotated Bibliography Assignment

Now that youve identified a topic/focus for your final project and done some preliminary reading,
this assignment asks you to address the next stage of the project: thorough, thoughtful research. In
particular, you will prepare an Annotated Bibliography of at least 10 sources that are relevant to
your topic/project. At least 2/3 of your sources should be academic sources, and 1/3 can be more
popular sources.

Goals
Read widely within your topic to get a sense of the larger conversation and where you fit
within it
Gather at least 10 sources that can be used in/toward your final project
Continue to hone your focus/argument
Begin drafting material (i.e., the annotations) that may be included in your final project

Specifics
Each of the 10 entries in your Annotated Bibliography should contain 2 parts: 1) a citation of the
source in correct MLA format (or other format as appropriate), and 2) a paragraph or two of your
own prose that describes and situates the source in terms of your own research. In other words,
the paragraph should tell the reader what the source is, what kinds of material it contains
(background, general commentary, positive arguments, etc.), andmost importantlyhow it
shapes your thinking about/toward your final project.

Generally, each annotation should address questions about the author (i.e., Who is the author, and
what are their qualifications? With what organizations or institutions is the author associated, if
relevant?) This part of the annotation should remain fairly limited. Devote the majority of the
annotation to discussing the source itself, keeping in mind the following questions when doing so:
What aspects of your topic/research question does this source address?
What perspective(s) does the author take on the issues you are pursuing?
What conclusions does the author draw, and where do you agree/disagree/fall somewhere
in between, or have questions?
What purpose do you anticipate the source will play in your research project? (e.g., provide
important background or facts, corroborate a point you plan to argue, offer alternative points
of view for you to engage with)
What further questions or research might this source suggest/require?

A Few Final Notes

Ongoing Research: This project should not represent the total of your research to date, nor should
it conclude it. Dont annotate everything you come across related to your topic because not all of it
will be germane. Instead, skim the source and evaluate it for credibility and relevance before
reading with annotation in mind. Also, dont stop reading once the Annotated Bibliography is
complete. Many of these sources will likely be cited in your final project, but others wont; theyll be
replaced by new, more relevant sources you find as you continue researching. As a general rule of
thumb, locate and review 2 sources for each 1 you include in the Annotated Bibliography.

Evaluation: You are responsible for evaluating sources for appropriateness and credibility. With the
range of projects we have, there will likely be a wide variety of sources that qualify as relevant,
but for some, you may need to spend more time providing justification.
 Senior Sem // Hauman // fall 2017

Varied Sources: The Annotated Bibliography (and research in general) should use various
sources, including but not limited to books, scholarly journals, newspapers, images, blogs,
websites, and videos. Your use of different types of sources will be determined to some degree by
your topic, but no bibliography should be overly dependent on one type of resource. And
remember, you want to look for sources that seem to generally agree with your point of view as
well as alternative points of view to engage with and show your full understanding of the topic.

Submission
You will submit your Annotated Bibliography to a shared Google Drive folder by class time on
Thursday, Oct. 12.

Rubric
Criteria Strong Adequate Weak
Clear, thorough, and useful evaluation of the author, work,
etc.
Entries drawn from appropriate and credible sources
Reflects research into a variety of types of sources
Clear and thorough explanation of how the work fits the
research project
Clear and appropriate sentence construction; grammatically
sound
Accuracy of MLA format