Unit 2: Reflective Annotated Bibliography

Due November 1

To explain Unit 2, I have to talk about Unit 3, too. This is because you’ll use the research you carry out in Unit 2 for your genre project in Unit 3. In that way, you should think about your Unit 2 topic as one that you’d like to continue for much of the semester.

In Unit 3, the next unit, you’ll be creating a work in a new genre, perhaps one you haven’t written in before, about the question you’ve researched in Unit 2. For example, in Unit 3, you might write a journalistic article for readers of Scientific American, or a political story for readers of Teen Vogue. You may write a how-to manual, a manifesto, a short story, a TED Talk, or a comic book, to name only a few options. Whatever you write in Unit 3, however, will be based on the research you accomplish in Unit 2. You don’t have to know exactly what you’d like to do in Unit 3, but it will be helpful to have it in the back of your mind.

Okay, onto Unit 2. In this unit, you will be writing something called an annotated bibliography. This is a document people write while researching. It’s a list of sources (articles, books, interviews, etc.) about a specific topic. Generally, for each source, the writer includes a summary of the source as well as other important notes relating to it. Annotated bibliographies are helpful research tools because they help us keep track of multiple sources and ideas so that we can quickly turn to them later as we develop larger projects. They also help us gain a broad understanding of a topic or research question.

You will be writing a reflective annotated bibliography. That means for each of the three sources you’ll engage with in this assignment, you will write longer-than-average entries which include not just what the writer said, but how they said it, why they said it, and what you think about it. We extend these entries because the annotated bibliography will be your primary mode of engaging with research this semester, as opposed to it being just one step on the way to a fully-fledged research paper like you might have in other classes.

What you need to do now:

We start this assignment by finding a question or topic that makes you curious—something you really want to learn more about. We’ll look for these questions in the Guardian article “Schools are Killing Curiosity” and in James Baldwin’s “A Talk to Teachers.” We will work together to narrow this down into a question you can research.

This assignment isn’t a traditional research essay. It doesn’t start with a thesis. Real research, as we’ll discuss, is about asking questions that you don’t have the answer to. Conducting research to support a position you already have is a persuasive essay, but not the sort of research you will often be asked to do in school. Rather, in these settings we conduct research to find out something we don’t already know. So you’ll start with questions and follow whatever roads you discover, informing the class and yourself about what you found.

An overview of the process and finished product: 

We will spend the next few weeks researching and writing. An annotated bibliography is something you write as you conduct research (though you will spruce it up for final submission).  

Your reflective annotated bibliography will have (don’t worry, we’ll go over all of these ingredients in detail as we do them): 

• An introduction in which you introduce your question, why this question intrigues you, and what you expect to find in your research.  (At least 300 words) 
• Three sources (at least 400 words each), each with a corresponding bibliography entry which includes:
  • A bibliographic entry in MLA format (see the “RAB Road Map” for more info)
  • A summary, in your own words, of the source’s content. Not just what the text means, but what it means to you. You will also include your opinion of what you’ve read 
  • A  rhetorical analysis (an evaluation of the author’s credentials, writing style, and purpose, and why you think the author is credible or not)
  • You will also probably want to include a couple of key quotes here that you might want to use later. These, however, don’t count toward your word count.

• Each of these three sources will need to be a different genre. What this means is that you need to look at different types of sources. You can’t have four magazine articles or four YouTube videos. We’ll discuss this further in class.  
• A conclusion in which you summarize what you found and explain what surprised you and how you’re thinking on your question deepened or changed.  You will also explain why you think what you learned is important, and who you think should hear about it (At least 400 words) 

In total, the bibliography should add up to at least 1,900 words. Often, students write more.

What you’ll be graded on:

1. Content: Is it readable and informative? Does it teach us about the topic? Do we learn how you feel about the topic? Is it at least 1,900 words long?
2. Research: Did you dig deep? Did you look for sources that don’t just agree with what you thought you would find? Were you open to being surprised and contradicted? Did you look further than the first three hits on Google? 
3. Genre: Remember that your three sources must each be a different genre.
4. Presentation: Basically, can someone who is not you make sense of this, both visually and intellectually? Are there subheads and other things that would help a reader make sense of your document? Is it organized? Standard Written English and academic tone don’t matter so much, just as long as it’s done with care and shows that you’ve proofread it.
5. Citation: If you quote something in your Intro or Conclusion that’s from one or more of your sources, be sure to cite it. We will go over citation rules in class.