Good Trouble (1000 words or more)

In a commencement speech Congressman John Lewis delivered in Atlanta in 2020, he declared, “You must find a way to get in the way. You must find a way to get in trouble, good trouble, necessary trouble. Use what you have … to help make our country and make our world a better place, where no one will be left out or left behind. … It is your time.” Similarly, in his CCNY commencement speech and final editorial, Congressman John Lewis urges us to find our own “good trouble.”

For Unit 2, you will put together a Reflective Annotated Bibliography on your own “good trouble.” Choose a current issue that you care about, one that you will write about further in Unit 3. You will locate, evaluate, and respond to 2 sources that already exist on this topic, and add your own voice to the conversation.

Once you decide on a topic to investigate, you will want to find 2 sources in different genres: newspaper and journal articles, interviews, documentaries, songs, poems, government reports, etc. Websites like www.easybib.com can help you format your entries. The Purdue University OWL (Online Writing Lab) provides a helpful guide to bibliographic form.

RAB Components:

  • Introduction (200-300 words)
    • Introduce your topic, why it interests you, and what you wish to find out more about
  • List your 2 sources in alphabetical order, with MLA citation and info below (400-500 words each)
    • 1-paragraph Summary + 2-3 Key Quotes (include citation page if possible)
    • 1-paragraph Rhetorical Analysis (Who is the author? What kind of publication is this?  How do you feel the author’s writing style, awareness of audience and purpose (reason for writing), and choice of genre affect the meaning and credibility of the document?)
    • 1-paragraph Response (what do *you* think of these ideas? how does this source add to your knowledge?)
  • Conclusion (200-300 words)
    • Reflect on what you have learned and why this new knowledge is important
    • Identify a potential audience for your ideas and consider which genre would be most appropriate to express them

Unit2 RAB Model

Evaluation Criteria Checklist

  • Reflection should be readable, informative, and thorough and give a clear sense of both the author’s ideas and your own
  • Sources should be varied in content and genre
  • Formatting should be clear, with attention to visual organization (labels)
  • Citations should follow MLA format
  • Clear sentence structure, grammar, and punctuation