Research (final) Project Assignment Sheet for English 2300: Annotated Bibliography
For the purposes of this project, you are to create an annotated bibliography of two scholarly journal articles written about the topic of Ethics and Literature. To locate your articles, use only the ONLY MLA International Bibliography database which can be accessed through Lamar University’s library homepage. Each scholarly journal article must be a minimum of ten pages in length. Once you have located your articles, read each one of them carefully. Then you are to create a bibliographic entry for each one followed by your annotation of the article. (Consult the course website to see a sample annotated bibliography and a written assignment sheet.)
So what is a bibliography?
A bibliography is a list of sources (books, journals, Web sites, periodicals, etc.) one has used for researching a topic. Bibliographies are sometimes called “References” or “Works Cited” depending on the style format you are using. A bibliography usually just includes the bibliographic information (i.e., the author, title, publisher, etc.). For the purposes of this assignment, you are to use only scholarly, peer reviewed journal articles.
And what is an annotation?
An annotation is a summary and/or evaluation.
Therefore, an annotated bibliography includes a summary and/or evaluation of each of the sources, or in this case, the scholarly journal articles. Thus, once you have carefully read an article, you are to create a bibliographic entry for it. Then write you annotation as follows:
Summarize the source: What are the main arguments? What is the point of this article? What topics are covered? If someone asked what this article is about, what would you say? There are different kinds of scholarly articles. For instance, your article may be an essay consisting of a thesis or claim that is supported with evidence. Summarizing this kind of article requires answering questions such as: What is the main claim or thesis? What evidence is presented to support the argument or thesis? Just listing the contents of the article is not the same thing as identifying the thesis and evidence. The length of your annotations will determine how detailed your summary is.
Next, Assess the source: After summarizing a source, it may be helpful to evaluate it. Is it a useful source? How does it compare with other sources in your bibliography? Is the information reliable? Is this source biased or objective? What is the goal of this source?
Finally, Reflect on the source: Once you’ve summarized and assessed a source, you need to ask how it fits into your research. Was this source helpful to you? How does it help you shape your argument? How can you use this source in your research project? Has it changed how you think about your topic?
The finished annotated bibliography will consist of a complete citation for each of the three scholarly journal articles you’ve selected to read followed by an annotation (summary) of about 500 – 700 words. This means that the total document should be a minimum of 1000 words.