Annotated Bibliography

Final Paper (6-8 pages)

 

Student Name   Professor’s Name   CENG 202: World Literature//Enlightenment   2 October 2015   Your Title

Bedell 2

FORMAT:                 Papers must be typed in 12-point Times New Roman, double-spaced, formatted according to 2014 MLA style and have one-inch margins. Your name should appear in the upper left-hand corner, followed by the professor’s name, course, date, and title of your paper (centered) on page one. Insert page numbers (Your Last Name 2) on each upper right-hand corner beginning with page 2 (check the Different First Page box in MS Word under Insert Page Numbers).

 

PREWRITING

1. Select one of the following texts from class: Don Quixote, Don Quixote, or Don Quixote.
2. Research four (4) articles of criticism and historical contexts for Don Quixote (JSTOR, EBSCOhost, CUI and UCI libraries). No websites will be acceptable as academic sources.
3. Choose a topic we discussed in class or that you have considering while reading Don Quixote. Write an arguable, supportable thesis that analyzes that topic and uses the research as additional evidence.
4. Write an Annotated Bibliography (see instructions on the back of this page)

 

WRITING DIRECTIONS (with “suggested” outline of pages)

1. Introduction: The first paragraph introduces the thesis. It is not a place for fluffy generalities, paraphrasing, or quotes from the dictionary. The introductory paragraph presents the thesis and the forecasting statement (key points). Do not use 2^nd
2. Main Body (6 pages): The introduction points forward to the thesis while the main body points back at it. Gather evidence from the text and primary sources that support your thesis. The main body should consist mostly of the evidence you take from the texts (including research) and your analysis of that evidence. Present and thoroughly analyze evidence in organized paragraphs—each no longer than 1/3 of the page. Every paragraph is required to have a claim, evidence, and a very clear warrant.
3. Conclusion (about 1 page): Do not restate the introduction or thesis! Synthesize your main points into a concluding analysis and state the interesting results of your paper.

 

WRITING ASSESSMENT

You are encouraged to visit the Writing Center and discuss this paper. The thesis is graded as completed or not completed. Every grammar/mechanics error in this paper will result in the loss of ½ point from your final grade. Papers are graded from 1-100 and make up 15% of your final course grade. All papers must be submitted by midnight on Friday, as PDF files via SafeAssign on Blackboard. The grade on late papers will be dropped by one percentage point for each calendar day they are late.

 

HOW TO WRITE AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

A bibliography is a list of sources (books, journals, websites, periodicals, etc.) one has used for researching a topic. Bibliographies are sometimes called “references” or “works cited” depending on the style format you are using. A bibliography usually just includes the bibliographic information (i.e., the author, title, publisher, etc.).

An annotation is a summary and/or evaluation. Therefore, an annotated bibliography includes a summary and/or evaluation of each of the sources. Depending on your project or the assignment, your annotations may do one or more of the following:

• Summarize: Some annotations merely summarize the source. What are the main arguments? What is the point of this book or article? What topics are covered? If someone asked what this article/book is about, what would you say? The length of your annotations will determine how detailed your summary is.

 

• Assess: After summarizing a source, it may be helpful to evaluate it. Is it a useful source? How does it compare with other sources in your bibliography? Is the information reliable? Is this source biased or objective? What is the goal of this source?

 

• Reflect: Once you’ve summarized and assessed a source, you need to ask how it fits into your research. Was this source helpful to you? How does it help you shape your argument? How can you use this source in your research project? Has it changed how you think about your topic?

Your annotated bibliography may include some of these, all of these, or even others. If you’re doing this for a class, you should get specific guidelines from your instructor.

 

Why should I write an annotated bibliography?

To learn about your topic: Writing an annotated bibliography is excellent preparation for a research project. Just collecting sources for a bibliography is useful, but when you have to write annotations for each source, you’re forced to read each source more carefully. You begin to read more critically instead of just collecting information. At the professional level, annotated bibliographies allow you to see what has been done in the literature and where your own research or scholarship can fit. To help you formulate a thesis: Every good research paper is an argument. The purpose of research is to state and support a thesis. So a very important part of research is developing a thesis that is debatable, interesting, and current. Writing an annotated bibliography can help you gain a good perspective on what is being said about your topic. By reading and responding to a variety of sources on a topic, you’ll start to see what the issues are, what people are arguing about, and you’ll then be able to develop your own point of view.

To help other researchers: Extensive and scholarly annotated bibliographies are sometimes published. They provide a comprehensive overview of everything important that has been and is being said about that topic. You may not ever get your annotated bibliography published, but as a researcher, you might want to look for one that has been published about y