The Annotated Bibliography Assignment



Description of the use of the genre

For our second major assignment this semester, we will be creating annotated bibliographies.  Though your textbook suggests that annotated bibliographies are largely to help your instructor ensure that you understand how to evaluate sources, the real primary audience for annotated bibliographies, you'll find, is yourself.  It is nearly impossible to remember everything that you read.  Annotated bibliographies do not simply remind you of which sources you've read (bibliography) but also remind you what you thought of each source (annotation) without forcing you to skim pages of notes, marginalia, or the source in its entirety. 

Though the annotated bibliography seems particularly formal at times -- and it is -- this formality will help you in two key ways.  First, you will be forced to process the information you read into a reusable format that emphasizes a manageable amount of crucial points.  Secondly, there is the practical advantage of being able to cut and paste your entries directly into the bibliographies that belong to your papers, presentations, or other objects that you create that are based on your research in the future.  (It's often easy to underestimate how much time it takes to create a bibliography at the end of your work.  Doing the work up front makes your final delivery run more smoothly!)

In short, annotated bibliographies (and to a great degree, the papers and other projects they inform or produce) are what make your research useful to yourself in the future, and are one of the most important genres to master for the sake of your academic career.



Assignment details

For this assignment, you will be creating an evaluative annotated bibliography.  As your book states, this means that your bibliographies will, "not only describe the sources in detail, but also evaluate their usefulness for the writer's own project[s]" (119).

Topic:
Before starting on your research, clear your selected topic with your instructor.

Let me repeat that statement.  Before starting on your research, clear your selected topic with your instructor.

Please pick a topic and field that will be useful to you.  What is an important topic related to your major?  Perhaps it would help your resume to research and be familiar with it.  Would you like to have experience in a field outside of your major, like writing television reviews?  You might then research what's been written about films, directors, screenwriters, and other concepts related to a current or upcoming film.  Or do you have a paper for this (Thoreau and Walden, wink wink) or another class where taking a formalized approach to research would be helpful?  As long as you're not required to create an annotated bibliography for that assignment in another class, you're welcome to have this one do dual duty.

You will be summarizing your research topic and its potential ends or future productions (that is, for example, a paper) in your "statement of scope" at the start of your bibliography.

Source Requirements:
You will be annotating at least ten sources.  These sources must include at least one of each of the follow media types:
  1. A book (remember from lecture, I expect you "to raid, not to read" your selected book for this assignment)
  2. A scholarly article accessed online
  3. A scholarly article accessed in hardcopy format
  4. An online newspaper article
  5. A YouTube or other online video
  6. A television broadcast
  7. A podcast
Those with an aptitude for math have already deduced that you will have three (or more, at your discretion) additional sources to add to that list.  These three can come from one of the genres mentioned above or another of your choosing, like a personal interview, radio advertisement, painting/photograph/other work of art, movie, billboard, or even another annotated bibliography.  Feel free to be creative and "efficient" in your selection ("You know, I really like watching The News Hour with Jim Lehrer.  I think I'll include that for #6!"), but be sure each selection makes a serious, productive connection with your bibliography's stated purpose.


Annotation Requirements:

The requirements for your annotations are those listed in your book (119-124).  In addition, each annotation, at least ten in total, must be no shorter than 200 words and almost certainly not more than 500.  Your statement of scope should also be at least 200, and more likely 250-300 words.  We will discuss at least one method to measure how many words are in a document during our time in the computer classroom.

These are not randomly selected numbers.  They are meant both to ensure that you include enough information about your sources that you can remember what you thought about them when you first read or experienced them, but also short enough that you force yourself to select the most important points to foreground for later.  It is tempting to include everything you found even remotely interesting from a source.  This is not always the most productive way to re-experience your research when you return to it in the future.  Let some of it go!

Make sure that you follow your textbook's instructions and create a method for evaluating your sources (123) before you begin reading/experiencing them, though also feel free to amend your method if you find it necessary in the future.

Finally, one quick point of departure from your textbook's suggestions.  Your book warns, "You may be tempted to include in a bibliography every source you find or look at" (121).  That's good advice if you find a source but don't read it, but if you do read/experience a source, make a quick annotation about it, even if it's to say that it wasn't useful at all and to explain why it wasn't.  Having the information about its content can save you from rereading for no reason later, or could remind you of something you didn't believe would be useful at the time but becomes useful later -- including using its failings to set up your own arguments.  Recording these sources in your bibliography ensures that you don't waste your investment of attention and time.


Format Requirements:

If you know that a particular bibliographic standard best fits your topic, check with your instructor and, if it is approved, use it.  If you don't have a particular bibliographic format in mind, use the Modern Language Association's (MLA) format.

You are welcome to group your sources into a "multi-category" bibliography if you would like.



Other notes

Please keep in mind the "key features" of annotated bibliographies as described in your textbook (119-120).
  1. A statement of scope.
  2. Complete bibliographic information.
  3. A concise description of the work.
  4. Relevant commentary.
  5. Consistent presentation.
We will be discussing several methods of automating the creation of annotated bibliographies in class.  Be warned that these methods are often far from perfect!  It is your responsibility to double-check automated bibliography creation and ensure that your final version is error-free.

Your final bibliography will be graded with the aforementioned points in mind. 
You should email a copy of your bibliography to your instructor with a subject and filename that follows the format LastName_AnnotatedBibliography_0909.doc and bring a printed copy to class on or before the date it is due.