The Annotated Bibliography Assignment

The purpose of this assignment is to prepare you fully to write the Argument to Convince and to document the work you do as you prepare. It should be seen as a step in the process (not a small step) of researching and writing the Argument to Convince. The assignment consists of three sections:  The annotated bibliography  The research question  The findings so far Turn in all three sections as one document with continuous pagination. See sample (attached or in in Hall of Fame). This is a fairly extensive assignment, so be sure to read these instructions closely and study the sample.



The Annotated Bibliography

The annotated bibliography is a list of 7-9 sources with one-page annotations following each entry. It is similar to a Works Cited page in that each source is listed as a separate entry but different in that following each entry is an “annotation” or notes about the source. The purpose of this assignment is to help you evaluate and document your sources systematically and thoroughly as you research for the argument to convince. Requirements:

 alphabetical order, just like a Works Cited page  each entry should be approximately ¾ to one-page long (bib will end up being about 6-9 pages)  at least three scholarly (aka peer-reviewed) sources  variety of types of sources is best  use more than one database  each entry consists of four parts:  citation –a citation of the source in correct MLA format  summary—a brief and specific summary of the source  evaluation—evaluates the source by looking at author credentials, type of source and/or

place of publication, and quality of writing  relevance—describes how the source is relevant to your topic, how you`ll use it entries well organized, using complete sentences and connector words between sections  can be used later as the Works Cited page for the Argument to Convince (just copy and paste and then delete the annotations after each entry)



The Research Question

Ideally, you will form your research question before you begin looking for sources, but I`d like you to

write it down and turn it in with the annotated bibliography, because it will continue to guide you as you write your argument to convince. It should be a one- to two-sentence question that helps you remain focused on your topic as you research.



The Findings So Far

This is a two-page discussion, double spaced, of what you have found after reading and evaluating your sources and writing the annotations for each source. It basically asks you to reflect on where you are—

what you have found so far about your topic, what you have learned, what has surprised you, what else you need to find out, and where you think you might be going with your argument to convince, which should naturally grow out of the work done so far.