paper/annotated bibliography
Write a short research paper (two pages) about a scholarly topic that is approved by the instructor. Your paper must incorporate information from all your six sources.
Write your thesis statement on the top of your annotated bibliography page.
Compile a bibliography for your research topic listing six sources you used to write the paper. Each citation should be followed by an annotation.
Annotated bibliographic citations.
- Each citation should be complete and in the appropriate format as outlined in your style manual.
- Following each citation, include an annotation of one or two sentences that briefly evaluates the relevancy of the resource to your research. Your annotation should comment on or evaluate any of the following:
- the credentials/affiliation of the author (this by itself is not a sufficient annotation)
- the purpose and scope of the work
- the sources and/or experimental methodologies used
- theories or conclusions of the work
- The bibliography must include a minimum of six citations, distributed among the resource categories as indicated below.
| Type of work | Comments | ||
| Reference works | The citation must be to a relevant Corette Library reference work. If you would like to use a reference work from another source, obtain Heather Navratil's approval. General encyclopedias (Britannica, Wikipedia, Encarta, Americana, World Book, etc.) and dictionaries are NOT acceptable. | ||
| Books | Textbooks and juvenile books are not acceptable. | ||
| Periodical article | Must be from a peer-reviewed/refereed journal, must be full text, not a citation or abstract. | ||
| Periodical article | 1 | Any relevant, substantial article obtained from a Corette library periodical index or print source. Brief articles are not acceptable. Must be full text, not a citation or abstract. | |
| Internet Web site | Should be an example of web publishing, not an article from a database delivered via the web. | ||
| Other information source |
|
- Style manual. If you do not use MLA style, indicate which style manual you use.
Keep in mind the following requirements as you write your bibliography; grading will be based on these criteria:
- Your thesis statement must be just that, an informed hypothesis about your subject. It is not a question or a statement of obvious facts. If in doubt, consult your professor or a reference librarian. See page 355 in A Writer's Reference and section 1.8.2 in the MLA Handbook. How to write a thesis statement (from Indiana University).
- Your sources must be relevant to your topic and of appropriate scholarly value, e.g., do not use juvenile books unless you are writing about that subject.
- Sources should be listed in one alphabetical list (by author or whatever is first in the citation).
- Include the complete title of all books and periodical articles, including the subtitle.
- Make sure you use the correct style for the source; there are different styles for book reviews, transcripts, DVDs, etc. If in doubt, consult a reference librarian or the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 6th ed.
- Do not use acronyms or abbreviations unless specified in the MLA Handbook. For University Press, use U P. If no date is apparent, use "n.d.". See other abbreviations on pages 178 and 261-281 of the MLA Handbook.
- Annotations must be written as complete sentences and specifically evaluative. Do not state "This is a good source" or " This book contained a lot of good information", etc. Do not summarize the content of the work.
- Spelling, grammar, and punctuation must be correct.
- In your citations, URLs should not be hyperlinks – how to do this.
- Use full URLs, including protocol, except for an article from a periodical index. In that case, you may conclude the URL with the domain.
- In your citations of websites, URLs should be for the specific page you are citing, not the homepage. If the URL is very long you may cite the URL for the homepage and indicate the path; see Hacker, page 391, note at top of page.
- Do not copy citations given in periodical indexes at the end of articles, even if they purport to be MLA style.
- When citing a periodical article from an aggregate database, e.g., Academic Search Premier, include the name of the database and vendor, date of access, and truncated URL, as described above. You do not need to list the library, city, and state from which you accessed the database unless it is NOT Carroll College, Helena, Montana.
- In your annotation of a personal interview, state who the person is and why he/she is a good person to interview about your topic.
- Do not confuse the author of a web site with the webmaster.
- Turn in the assignment via turnitin.com - see instructions.