Writing the Annotated Bibliography

Learning Objectives
Upon the completion of the Annotated Bibliography, you will have demonstrated
that you can use the citation style appropriate to your discipline, work in a
collaborative setting both with your own texts and with those of other settings via
the workshop, and show through your annotations that you can read disciplinary
essays and articles and comment critically on their meaning and structure as it
applies to their utilization in your research paper.

Assignment Description
The annotated bibliography sounds a LOT scarier than it is. This sheet will tell you
precisely what Im looking for you to do and why you are doing it. Use the rubric to
guide you, as well.
We all know what a bibliography is: a listing of citations of sources. So the first
step in this assignment is to just do the full citations of the sources that you have
found so far for your research paper as they would appear on your bibliographic
page (for some of you that's a Works Cited, for some a References, for some a
References List, for some a Bibliography, and for yet others, a Notes or End Notes
page: do whats appropriate for your documentation style). Put them in the order in
which they should appear according to your format-- again, check this. For most of
you, that's in alphabetical order, but for others, that's in the order in which they will
appear in the paper.
For this assignment, I want you to share a minimum of 10 and a maximum of 12
sources that you may potentially use in your research paper (Paper 4).

Second, you need to write the annotations on your bibliography. Under each of
your citations, you need to write a short paragraph (an annotation!) that tells me
these things, in this order:
1. What type of source it is-- a Web site? a journal article? a newspaper
article? an interview? What is this thing you're using? And just state it-- "This
is a newspaper article." There serves two purposes. First, it makes sure that
YOU know what it is so you can cite it right, and second, it tells ME what it is
so I can look it up in our text and see if you cited it right or if I need to help
you see how/where to correct it so it is 100% correct for your research paper.
2. Whether or not the source is peer-reviewed and how you know this.
If you look at the Prompt for Paper 4, you will see that at least four (4) of your
sources should be peer reviewed, and chapters in your text covered what is
and isn't a scholarly/peer-reviewed source. Therefore, write a sentence or two
that says the source is or isn't peer-reviewed and how you determined this.

Note now that newspapers and magazines are never, ever peer-reviewed and
scholarly, and 99% of books are NOT, either, even if someone with a
doctorate wrote them or if they are textbooks.
3. What information this source provides for your paper. Summarize, in a
few sentences to a paragraph, specifically what this source will do for your
argument. Will it define something? Explain it? Provide stats/facts or prove
something? Provide a counterargument? This is very important-- if you don't
know WHY you are using it, well, then, WHY are you considering using it?
(Thats part of the reason for doing this assignmentto find that out NOW
while you have time to weed out and replace unhelpful sources!)
4. Where in your paper are you considering using the source? What point
that you will be making in the paper is the source going to support? Keep in
mind that any source may be used once or it may be used multiple times, as
it may serve varying rhetorical purposes (which is why I want you to label the
BEAM categories on your outlines in a later assignment).
The Annotated Bibliography is a planning tool that provides a complete
citation of a source and forces you to think about how and why you might
want to use it in your paper. It is not uncommon at all for students to try to do
this assignment and realize that they have sources that they simply don't need or
that they have holes in their paper that need sources to support them. If this
happens, don't panic-- simply do a little more research and find what you need. You
still have some time to tie up loose ends! You are allowed to use 6-10 sources in
Paper 4. Use them wisely. Remember that at least FOUR should be peer-reviewed
journal articles.
You have a peer review workshop for this assignment, too. Look not just at
citations but check for spelling/grammar, etc. errors in the annotations. If you see
an error in the citation, use your textbook to give a page number/example number
of how the person should correct it-- don't feel the need (unless you just want to be
nice) to fix every comma, colon, or capitalization error. (I wont when I grade them.)

Grading of This Assignment

When I grade these, you start with full credit. I deduct points for incorrect citations
(very small deductions for good faith efforts, larger ones for those who obviously
just threw some slop together to turn it in). I also deduct points for each of the
things you don't include that are outlined above.
It's easy to score high on this, and it's easy to score low on it, too. I'm amazed at the
range of grades on this every semester. We're all getting tired at this point in the
term, but know that the better work you do on this, the better your research paper
turns out (there is a direct correlation between the two!).
Let me know if you have questions!