Unit 2: Inquiry Based Research/Annotated Bibliography
Word Count: 1,800-word minimum
First draft for peer review due Wednesday, 10/21
Final draft due to the instructor Monday, 10/26
Assignment
Inspired by âThe Declaration of Independence,” and current pieces about social issues occurring today, you will brainstorm issues that are deeply important to you, pick one, and work to develop a question related to the topic you want to investigate.
Then, you will do research and put together an 1,800-word annotated bibliography of three sources that help you answer your research question. This is not a traditional research essay. It does not begin with a thesis. Instead, you begin with a question and do research to seek answers.
A quick note: You will use the research from this assignment for a later assignment, so be sure you truly are interested in your topic.
Annotated bibliographies are used when doing research to help the researcher keep track of multiple sources and ideas. Usually the information gathered is needed for a larger project, and so itâs important to keep the information organized. Used in almost every field, annotated bibliographies allow researchers to gain a broad understanding of the topic or question they are investigating, and help them compile the data and information for their colleagues, students, and anyone interested in learning about the topic at hand.
Here is a useful site explaining what an annotated bibliography is and how to create one: https://guides.library.cornell.edu/annotatedbibliography
Your particular annotated bibliography will be approximately 1,800 words and will include the following:
- Your research question at the top of the page.
- An introduction: introduce your question, explain why this question intrigues you, and say what you expect to find in your research (approx. 300 words).
- Bibliographic citations for three sources. You should use MLA style to format these citations, and they should be listed in alphabetical order by the authorâs last name.
- You can find more on how to do MLA citations at the link below and throughout the Purdue OWL site: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_formatting_and_style_guide.html
- You can use Purdue OWL, Easy Bib, or Citation Machine to do your citationsâyou can google for the second two sites and the first is at the link above.
- The City Tech Writing Center can also help you with citations. Send an email requesting an appointment to CityTechWritingCenter@gmail.com
- Three informational and reflective entries after each bibliographic citation (approx. 300 words). Each entry includes the following:
- a summary of the sourceâs content.
- a reflection on that source, which includes your opinion of what youâve read.
- a brief analysis of the authorâs writing style: for example, what is the tone and choice of genre? You should also look at the purpose along with the authorâs credentials (address why you think the author is credible).
- a couple of key quotes you might want to use later.
Note: Each of these three sources will need to be a different genre. For example, you canât have three magazine articles or three YouTube videos. Examples of genres and media you might include are: newspaper articles, TED Talks, podcasts, personal essays, documentaries, magazine articles, scholarly articles, museum websites, interviews, video, songs, etc.
- A conclusion (approx. 400 words): What did you learn about your topic? How did your thinking change? Why is the research you found important? Which discourse community do you think would benefit from your research? Why and how would this discourse community benefit from this information?
What youâll be graded on:
- Content: Is it readable and informative? Does it teach us about the topic?
- Research: Did you dig deep? Meaning, did you look for sources that donât 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?
- Genre: Remember that your three sources must be different genres.
- Presentation: Basically, can someone who is not you make sense of this visually? Did you use subheads for each part (or make other formatting choices) to help a reader make sense of your document?
- Citation: If you quote something in your introduction or conclusion thatâs from one or more of your sources, be sure to cite it, using the MLA format.
Note: Below is an outline for your annotated bibliography. This will help you organize and format your annotated bibliography.
Annotated Bibliography Template
The document below is designed to help you break down this assignment, so that you can clearly see what is expected in each section.
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 (a hypothesis).
- Write this in paragraph format (1-3 paragraphs).
Source Entries (approx. 300 words each). You need three entries!
- Use three sources.
- Organize the sources in alphabetical order by authorâs last name.
- Be sure each source is a different genre.
- Include an entry for each source (directions for entries are below).
- Include all four parts for each entry (summary, reflection on the source, analysis of the authorâs choice of genre and writing style, and quotes).
How do I write an entry?
Part 1:
The first part of your entry will be the MLA style bibliographic citation for your source. The citation gives the publication information, author, date, title, and so forth. There are many websites (like easybib.com) that can help you do this. Here is one example of a citation:
Fitzgerald, Jill. âResearch on Revision in Writingâ Review of Educational Research. 57.4 (Winter 1987): 481-506.
Part 2:
For the second part of your entry (right beneath the citation), you will write a summary. This will be useful for remembering what you read. The summary should convey what the author states in the article and not your opinions. Write what you think the main point is, but also what you think the most important points are (these arenât always the same.) This is also a good time to make note of what data, facts, and evidence the author uses to support their claims, and how they use this evidence to arrive at their conclusions. This will be approximately a paragraph long.
Part 3:
In the third part of your entry, you will write a reflection. This part is perhaps the most important part, so donât skimp here! This is where you respond to the text youâve read:
- Do you agree or disagree with the text? Why or why not? Be specific!
- Quote the text.
- What questions do you have about what the text is saying? What donât you understand?
- What other information do you need to look up to better understand this article?
- If you could say something to this author, what would you say?
- What does this document tell you about your research question?
Also consider rhetorical factors here like the genre, writing style, purpose, and authorâs credentials:
- How do you feel about the authorâs writing style?
- What is the authorâs intended audience and purpose (reason for writing)?
- Is the genre effective? Does the choice of genre make sense for what the author wants to accomplish?
- How do you know this is a credible author and document?
Part 3 will be approximately 1-2 paragraphs.
Part 4:
Quotations: Make a note of at least one direct quote from each source that you feel really exemplifies the documentâs claims or interpretations or that you feel is important or useful in some way. Be sure to put the quotation in quotation marks and note the page number.
Conclusion (approx. 400 words)
- Summarize what you found in your research.
- Tell readers what surprised you, or how your understanding of your question deepened or changed.
- Explain why what you learned is important.
- Explain who you think needs to know about your research and why– be specific! (The answer cannot be âeveryoneâ needs to know. That is too big of an audience.) Narrow it down to who needs to hear about it first or the most!
