Colorful pencils in a cup
“Writing” by K’s GLIMPSES via Flickr CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Before class on Monday, students will…

  • Find at least one, preferably two sources that you want to use for your U2 Reflective Annotated Bibliography. This will require you to search through multiple sources. Don’t just pick the first two you find! Remember:
    • At least one source must come from a peer-reviewed journal from a City Tech library database (when you use OneSearch you can narrow your search down to peer-reviewed results)
    • One source must be multimodal (a TEDtalk, documentary, or YouTube video, for example)
    • The third source is up to you, as long as it’s from a trustworthy source (a reputable news source, not a random blog, for example)
  • Over the weekend, read those sources you’ve chosen carefully and be ready to create at least one of your source citations in class.
  • Bring the sources to class (preferably printed)!
  • Here’s helpful documents that show how to format your source entries can be found on the Course Profile of OpenLab.

During class on Monday, we will…

  • Discuss how to Evaluate Sources and share the sources found so far with a neighbor.
  • Talk about writing citations using both the City Tech library website (for sources you find in the databases) and other sources (using the wonderful Purdue OWL website).
  • Spend much of the time writing by hand on a worksheet I’ll provide, so be sure to bring pens or pencils, plus your laptop or tablet to look at the City Tech library website (or be ready to use your cell phone).
    • This will be one of those low-stakes writing assignments! Be ready to show significant progress by the end of class!
  • Hopefully, by the end of our class time, you’ll have at least one source drafted with the following:
    • The MLA bibliographic citation
    • A summary of the source
    • A reflection on the source
    • One direct quote in a quote sandwich and cite it properly 

During class on Wednesday, we will…

  • Continue with the second (and perhaps third) source citation.
  • Again, these citations will be written by hand for the first draft, using a worksheet to guide you.
    • Before the end of class, show me your progress to earn low-stakes writing credit!
  • If you finish with all three sources in class, continue work on your Introduction (using the worksheet we had last week) and/or Conclusion. Remember, you need the following:

Introduction (approx. 300 words)

  • Introduce your question.
  • Explain how or why you got interested in your question.
  • Explain what you expect to find in your research.

Conclusion (approx. 400 words)

  • Summarize what you found in your research.
  • Discuss what you learned while doing this research and why it is important to the overall topic.
  • Explain who you think needs to know about your research and why. (The answer cannot be “everyone needs to know.” That is too big of an audience.) Narrow it down to who needs to hear about it first or the most!

Looking forward to next week…

  • Continue working on the Introduction, Sources (including citation, summary, reflection, and quote for each source), and conclusion.
  • Begin transferring the handwritten work you’ve put on the worksheets onto the U2 Reflective Annotated Bibliography Template, which you can find here.
  • Be prepared to finish up any writing on Monday, 4/1.
  • Be ready for a peer review session on Wednesday, 4/3.