Annotated Bibliography

Welcome to project 2 – the Annotated Bibliography! In this project we will practice building an annotated bibliography that will lead us into our Project 3: The Archival Research Paper. So, although this may feel like a departure from the topic we are currently discussing, the connections will soon become apparent. 

Your group will be assigned two archival collections housed at GSU and you will each be asked to use at least one of those collections to develop an archival project (project 3). Project 2 is designed to help you develop your topic and organize your research. For this reason, our particular Annotated Bib will be built alongside a one-page proposal that bridges Project 2 and Project 3. 

Learning Objectives

After completing this project, students should be able to:

  1. Explain the differences between a working bib, an annotated bib, and and Works Cited page.
  2. Properly craft an annotated précis.
  3. Define and craft an annotation
  4. Explain the purpose for using different stylebooks
  5. Properly cite sources in MLA 

The Specifics

Deliverables

  • A one-page project proposal due prior to the actual Annotated Bib which:
    • identifies your collection
    • Includes one or more images of the main archival material featured in the project
    • details two research questions
    • identifies a developing argument/thesis
    • provides some discussion of how you wish to develop your project (sources, intentions, etc.)
  • Annotated bibliography including:
    • at least five total sources
      • At least TWO sources must be archival – you may have a maximum of three
      • at least ONE of the other three sources must be scholarly(look back at Tophat, Chapter 6’s section marked “Original Reports of Research: Scholarly Publications)
      • ONE of the other three sources canbe a non-archival primary source 
      • Nosources can be associated with Wikipedia or a dictionary
      • Use only credible popular sources (see chapter six for a definition of “credible popular source”
    • Proper MLA-formatted citations for all five sources, alphabetized 
    • Two-paragraph annotations for each source, where
      • paragraph one is a four-sentence rhetorical precis, following the precis model we will learn in class, and in which no quotes are used;
      • paragraph 2 is a brief discussion of the importance of the source to the proposed paper.
      • You may use one quote in the second paragraph, if it expresses the source’s significance

Due Dates

Tuesday, July 7: Project Proposal – iCollege submission box

Friday, July 10: Annotated Bibliography

How to Complete

Project Proposal

It might feel weird to discuss a proposal for the next project here, but since this bridges projects 2 and 3, it seems appropriate that you should create this document first. Your proposal and bib are due in the same week, with the proposal due on Tuesday and the bib being due Friday. This will give you time to get enough research done to think about what it is you want to do, while allowing you extra time to complete your annotations and put your bib together. 

To complete the project proposal, you must have finished the Archive Investigation Report – a group discussion that allows you and your group to share the workload and jumpstart your thinking. Once you have complete the project, decide upon a topic and archival object that will be the focus of your personal project. Write your one-page proposal as a discussion of what you are interested in researching. Include two research questions that you have developed in thinking about your archival artifact.  Identify an argument or thesis that connects with these questions and the artifact. Finally, include at least one small image of your main archival artifact with a caption that identifies the object and its collection. 

Side Note: One page does not mean one paragraph. A well-done proposal is concise, cleanly written, and well-edited with easy transitions. 

Annotated Bibliography

The annotated bib is a mix of skills that include the ability to generate proper MLA citations, write rhetorical precis’, and expand on the usefulness of varying materials. To complete the Annotated Bib, go back to the Tophat Chapter 6 section marked “Writing Associated with Research” and read the subheadings marked “Rhetorical Precis” and “Annotated Bibliographies, assigned in Week 4.  Then build your bib just like the sample bib. Each source should have a citation and a two-paragraph annotation, for a total of six entries. Again, paragraph one should be a textbook rhetorical precis that discusses the actual text, while the second paragraph will talk about the usefulness of the source. 

Formatting Entries

Each entry should be composed of a full citation at the top, formatted to hang (see below) and a two paragraph annotation. There should be a space between each entry, but not between the source and the annotation. Again, each citation should be formatted in MLA (see Tophat CH. 6 or The Purdue OWL’s MLA pages).  Make sure that you leave a space between each entry and use hanging indentions for your source citations.

See this Example Traditional Annotated Bib for more on formatting but consider the notes below. 

Writing Precis’ for Non-Textual Sources

For non-textual (meaning non-written) sources, like artifacts, images, etc, instead of building a traditional precis, you will want to create one that behaves more like an analytical description. For instance, compare the traditional precis form with this precis of the ACT UP “SILENCE=DEATH” t-shirt:

ACT UP activists, through their protest t-shirt featuring “SILENCE=DEATH” (ca. 1987), asserts that multiple silences, on the part of politicians, the medical community, and within families, are responsible for the stigmatization and deaths of those infected with HIV. The activists design rhetorically supports this claim by featuring a pink triangle – the symbol designated by Nazis for concentration camp members who were arrested for their homosexuality – over bold white lettering in all caps stating “Silence=Death” placed on a black background.  Their purpose is to link the human rights violations of WWII with the treatment of those infected with HIV in order to draw attention to the disease which, at the time, was largely ignored as a “gay disease” and, in religiously conservative circles, a punishment for immorality. The designers build an image whose tone is shocking and difficult to ignore by those seeing the shirt who might feel unaffected by the epidemic; in this way it becomes a conversation starter.