Purpose

An annotated bibliography is a tool for ensuring that you have thought through and evaluated the secondary sources used in your research paper. It helps you see the big picture by requiring you to summarize each source. It also helps move the research project along by forcing you to gather your data early.

Context

I am the main audience for the annotated bibliography, but in a sense you are the audience also since you will use the conclusions you draw from this exercise to determine whether and how to use the various sources that you gather. So you are writing in the role of a student, with the goal of showing that you understand your sources and know how to use them in the paper.

Requirements

You must provide five secondary sources in the annotated bibliography. If you use a primary source in the paper, such as an interview, it would not be included here.

Because this is an annotated bibliography, you have to go beyond giving the documentation information. I am requiring that you do an evaluative annotated bibliography. Chapters 22 and 23 of the textbook go into detail on the various components that can be included and how to evaluate them. I am requiring that you include the following information for each source, at a minimum:

· Documentation information, in current MLA format (see chapter 27, pages 544-571)

· Summary of the information in the secondary source (article, book, website, documentary, etc.)

· Evaluation of the author(s): education, work experience, possible bias

· Evaluation of the publication source: likely credibility, currency, development of relevant information

· Evaluation of the evidence: fairness to both sides of any controversy, relevance to your topic, reliability

Structure and Content

See page 504 of the textbook for a model of what these should look like. Note that the bibliography must be arranged alphabetically according to the authors’ last names. The evaluation should be written in complete sentences, in paragraph form. The summary should be one paragraph. The evaluation components may be in one or more paragraphs, depending on how much you have to write about each.

When writing up your evaluation, you must show an analysis and the evidence. For instance, in evaluating an author’s background, simply noting that the author has a PhD or is a university professor is not enough. This is the evidence. The analysis is that the author is likely to be reliable on the topic because of the evidence. I’m looking for you to give the results of your thinking, then, as well as the details you used to arrive at the results.