Annotated Bibliography | 250-500 points
For this project, you will compose an annotated bibliography using Zotero. Your annotated bibliography will comprise ten complete bibliographic entries and ten annotations. An annotated bibliography is a list of sources. It provides a complete bibliographic entry for each source in MLA format, and then for each bibliographic entry, gives a brief annotation (150-200 words) that evaluates the source and identifies why it is relevant to our ongoing study of the rhetoric of built environments.
Each bibliography annotation (bibliographic entry + annotation) is worth 25-50 points. Compose more bibliography annotations for more points (up to 25 points per submission, for a max total of 500 points on this project). You will use Zotero to create your bibliography and submit links to each bibliography annotation using the form on your WordPress site.
Due Dates
The ten required bibliography annotations are due by the following dates:
- Bibliography Annotations 1, 2, & 3: 11:59 pm, February 5th
- Bibliography Annotations 4, 5, & 6: 11:59 pm, February 22nd
- Bibliography Annotations 7, 8, & 9: 11:59 pm, March 25th
As long as you submit each of the required bibliography annotations by the due date, you can submit extra bibliography annotations at any time until April 1st (for up to 25 points per extra bibliography annotation, up to a max total of 500 points for this project). Late bibliography annotations can be submitted for completion credit (but not for points, see late work policy below) until 11:59 pm on April 1st.
Instructions
How to compose an annotated bibliography:
Project Purpose and Goals: This project is designed to continue to develop your skills of summary and description. It will also help you to develop academic research skills, and learn how to evaluate the credibility and relevance of different sources. You will practice MLA citation style. You will compose rhetorical analyses of multimodal artifacts. Finally, you will begin to synthesize information from your research and develop evidence-based conclusions about the rhetoric of the built environment.
Instructional readings and models for the annotated bibliography:
Guidelines:
When complete, your multimedia annotated bibliography should contain annotations of 150-250 words each for at least 10 sources. At least 7 of your sources should be academic pieces by scholars reporting on their work relevant to understanding the rhetoric of the built environment. At least 3 of your sources should be drawn from popular news journalism or other media coverage relevant to our ongoing examination of the rhetoric of built environment. Finally, of your 10 sources, at least 3 of them must rely primarily on some form of visual, gestural, spatial, or aural content other than alphabetic text to convey meaning.
As described on the University of Cornell Library website on “How to Prepare an Annotated Bibliography,” “the purpose of the annotation is to inform the reader of the relevance, accuracy, and quality of the sources cited.” In addition to MLA citations and annotations, your multimedia annotated bibliography will include links to your sources or to web references that identify where your sources can be located (e.g., in the library, on Amazon.com, on Netflix, etc.).
Ideally each annotation should briefly and concisely answer the following four questions about each source:
- What is this source about? When summarizing, keep in mind for whom the source was intended and why this source is relevant to your project.
- What information or evidence have you drawn from this source that helps you to understand better the rhetoric of the built environment and how it has taken shape within the city of Atlanta?
- Why did you choose this source? Your reasons might include one or more of the following: It is more comprehensive or detailed than other available sources. It specifically mentions or responds to one of our other readings for class. It is the only available source on the particular topic for which you are using it. The author seems to have views sympathetic to those of some of the other readings, or he/she offers an alternative viewpoint from those we have considered in our class discussions.
- Does this source have any flaws or weaknesses that you have had to take into consideration while using it? When answering this question, you should consider when and in what venue this source was published, and whether it shows the influence of bias or outdated/disfavored ideas, political views, research methods, etc.
- What is the relationship between this source and the other sources you’ve uncovered in your research? For example, does it offer an alternative viewpoint? Is the author in conversation with or does he/she draw upon the work of another author relevant to your project?