Annotated Bibliography
Purpose
This assignment will allow you to practice a variety of skills you will likely use later in college, and possibly in the professional world, including:
- more advanced searching skills for GALILEO and other databases
- development of an annotated bibliography (a common assignment and a research/writing tool for longer writing assignments)
Tasks
- Read Annotated Bibliographies (OWL @ Purdue).
- Choose Beowulf, The Canterbury Tales, or Le Morte D'Arthur by Thomas Malory.
- Identify a possible essay topic for the literary work you've chosen, and write a very brief topic description (1 sentence or less) that includes the author's name and title of the work. If you're unsure what to chose as the topic, start searching for articles, and craft an essay topic that fits with an article you like. The topic can be expressed as a phrase, question or statement. Here are a few examples:
- the humanity/lack of humanity of Frankenstein's monster in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
- Why are there so many negative statements about women in Wollenstonecraft's "A Vindication of the Rights of Woman"?
- In his poem, "Christabel," Samuel Taylor Coleridge increases sensationalism through imagery.
- In GALILEO, locate a scholarly, peer-reviewed article of literary criticism about your topic. Refer to the Subject Database list in the previous task for specific database recommendations and helpful search strategies. Do NOT read the whole article. Instead skim it by doing the following:
- Read the title.
- Read the abstract.
- Read the first two paragraphs.
- Read just the first sentence of each paragraph until you get to the last paragraph or two.
- Read the last paragraph or two.
- Review any graphs or images included with the article along with their captions.
- Determine your topic if you haven't already.
- Create an MLA-style citation for the article.
- Write an annotation for the article.
A: Explain what the article is about. (1-3 sentences)
Tell the audience what is in the article. This is the most difficult part of the annotation because it requires you to be very succinct. Don't rewrite the article; just write the basic facts and important notes about the article here, including the argument it's making (i.e. the article's thesis statement).
B: Explain how this article illuminates your topic. (1-2 sentences)
What about this article makes it relevant to your topic? Why did you select it? What pertinent bit of information makes this article stand out among the others?
C: Compare or contrast this work with another you have cited. (1-2 sentences)
How does this specific article relate to another article in your annotated bibliography? Do they agree or not? Why not? What makes it unique?
- Go back to GALILEO and locate 3 additional scholarly, peer-reviewed articles that could be useful when writing about your topic. At least two of these articles should be literary criticism, but the 4th article for your bibliography might be from another discipline such as history, psychology, or science.
- Create citations and written annotations for each of these articles, giving you a total of FOUR articles in your annotated bibliography.
- Assemble your bibliography by placing your properly formatted citations for each article in alphabetical order, including the annotation paragraph after each citation.
- Revise and proofread carefully before submitted your assignment into the assignment folder.
Specifications
The annotated bibliography should:
- be formatted in MLA-style with alphabetized entries, hanging indentation, double-spacing, Times New Roman (size 12), 1 inch margins, etc. (See examples in the module)
- contain correctly formatted citations and annotations for FOUR scholarly, peer-reviewed articles, at least 3 of which should be literary criticism
- concisely explain each article's content, including it's main argument, how it fits the topic, and how it compares to the other sources in the bibliography, answering all the questions listed above
- be written in 3rd person POV with a formal tone
- be carefully proofread; free from serious grammar errors and typos.
