Home Annotated Bibliography Project (Total Value: 10%):

Due date: 2/28/03

Print this handout and then reference it while you view the:

To make these guidelines easy to understand, I am going to use four simple sections, as follows:

1) Why this project is important to the Bibliographical Analysis Essay, the Moveable Bridge Essay, and Essay 4.
2) I tell you what an annotated bibliography is.
3) I give you an example of an entry.
4) I provide a checklist of everything that should be included.

Section 1: Why is this project so important to the Bibliographical Analysis Essay, the Moveable Bridge Essay, and Essay 4?

Because all the research you do for this project must be used again in the Bibliographical Analysis Essay, the Moveable Bridge Essay, and Essay 4.  Whatever topic you research and write about for your annotated bibliography is your topic for the rest of the semester.  If you decide to write about a different topic in the Bibliographical Analysis Essay, the Moveable Bridge Essay, or Essay 4, then you must do all the work of an entirely new annotated bibliography over again on the new topic.  I really do advise against anyone doing that.

Section 2: What is an annotated bibliography?

It's made up of 10 entries, and each entry has 2 parts: an MLA style citation; an annotation.

Basically, you research 10 scholarly articles, all on the same topic, and then you write an entry for each one.

Section 3: An example of an entry:

First of all, what is a citation?

A citation provides the publishing information on your scholarly article.  It says where the article was published, who wrote it, and a few other things we'll learn about in class.

What is an annotation?

An annotation is a short summary of the scholarly article, and it's also a critique of it. Simply put, your annotations do two things:
1) explain, or summarize, what the article is about, and the article's thesis is summarized in your first sentence.
2) evaluate why the article is a worthwhile one to read.

Your objective here is that anyone who reads your final work will know what each scholarly article's argument is.  They will also know the problems or solutions, if any, that the article proposes.  Finally, they will know whether the article is of a superior nature, or if they should go look for a different scholarly on this subject.

Here is an example of an entry:
 

Miller, Brian, Gerado Ceballos, and Richard Reading.  “The Prairie Dog and Biotic      Diversity.” Conservation Biology 8.3 (1994): 677-81.  Since the turn of this      century, prairie dog populations have declined up to 98% throughout North      America, largely due to prairie dog eradication programs. The prairie dog is a       keystone species that plays an important role in maintaining the biotic       integrity of the western grasslands from southern Canada to northern Mexico.      Prairie dog depopulation has degraded diversity on those prairies, and       several species depending on prairie dogs now have listing status under the      Endangered Species Act. Some form of legal protection for prairie dogs is      needed. Positive incentives for ranchers to watch over the interests of both      livestock and wildlife will enhance the attitude change necessary for grassland      conservation. These incentives hinge critically on an end to U.S. government      subsidies for prairie dog eradication programs. The subsidies are financially      and ecologically unsound, and contribute to the prevailing misconceptions       about the role of the prairie dog on the grasslands.

Section 4: Here is your checklist:
 

____     I am turning in 10 entries.

 

____     I don't start a new page for each entry.

 

____     None of my entries are from our textbooks, readings on reserve, or any other             readings associated with this course.

 

____     One of my entries is from an appropriate website.

 

____     I got seven of my entries from peer-reviewed journals.

 

____     I got two of my entries from books from the OSU library shelves.

 

____     No more than eight of the articles I am handing in were printed off a computer.

 

____     None of my entries are from magazines or from publications with advertisements             in them.

 

____     None of my entries are based on book reviews.

 

____     I am turning in copies of all ten of my articles, which means the entire article,             with my annotated bibliography

 

____     For the two books I used to write entries about, I am turning in a minimum of 10             copied pages from each book.

 

____     I individually stapled each article, rather than handing in loose pages or one big              mass of papers.

 

____     I wrote my name on the front page of each individual article.

 

____     I stapled the annotated bibliography together.

 

____     Each annotation I wrote is a minimum of 100 words to a maximum of 150 words,              which doesn't include the words in the citation.

 

____     I realize that for each copy of an article that I don't hand in my grade on this             project will be reduced by 10%, even if I have written an entry for that article.

 

____     I realize that for each entry that I don't write, or if it is incomplete, my grade             on this project will be reduced by 10%.

 

____     I realize that once I turn in this project, no matter whether I turn it in on time             or late, additional turn-ins of articles and/or entries won't be accepted.

 

____     I am using MLA style in accordance with class lectures, overhead presentations,             etc.