Does the critical annotated bibliography effectively apply genre conventions?

Does the critical annotated bibliography effectively fulfill its purpose and appeal to the audience?
Content choices- Does the critical annotated bibliography summarize your research process, explain your research strategies, and offer a tentative claim? Do your source annotations demonstrate that you understand the sources and how they are relevant to your tentative claim?
Genre choices- Does the critical annotated bibliography effectively apply genre conventions?
Structural choices- Does the critical annotated bibliography introduction follow a logical arrangement? Are the source annotations arranged in alphabetical order?
Linguistic choices- Does the critical annotated bibliography use effective language for the genre and rhetorical situation?
See Assignment Submission, Late Work, and Absences for additional information. Based on your schedule, feel free to submit pieces of the project early.
Assignment Submission:
Submit the assignment to this Writing Project #2 assignment link. Do not submit links or Google Docs. Do not email assignments.
When submitting the final, you must include a copy of the project checklist and check off each item as you complete it.
Task
Project Overview:
At this point in the research process, you have identified a research question that has guided your inquiry so far this semester. An annotated bibliography is an important genre in academic research because it helps you to keep track of the sources that you’ve found for your research project and to evaluate the sources based on your research question. Annotated bibliographies may take different forms depending on the context. For this class, the annotated bibliography has two parts: the introduction and the source annotations. See “Chapter 30: Giving Credit, Avoiding Plagiarism” in UNLV Writes.
Project Task Details and Checklist:
For Writing Project #2: The Critical Annotated Bibliography, you will begin answering the research question(s) that you developed in Unit 1. You will learn more about academic sources including how to locate, understand, and evaluate sources that are relevant to your research question. You will produce a critical annotated bibliography that documents your research process and analyzes relevant sources As always, in addition to the course materials, you can utilize the UNLV Writing Center, our course librarian, Carrieann, and the Library Resources page that the librarians have set up for us.
Audience: A college-level reader including your English 102 instructor
Purpose: To evaluate public and academic sources as they relate to your research question and research process
Genre: An annotated bibliography
Conventions: A 500-750 word critical introduction AND 5 -7 source entries (including complete APA citation and 150-300 word annotation). At least 3 sources must be scholarly, peer-reviewed sources. The others must be verifiably credible but you can choose from a variety of source types including documentaries, news, government, etc. See What is an Academic Journal Article Anyway?
Part 1: The Annotated Bibliography Critical Introduction provides background information about your research topic, research question, and research process. An effective introduction will help your reader understand what you’ve been researching this semester, how you’ve been conducting research, and how you plan to use the sources you’ve found in your final research paper.
The Critical Introduction is NOT the same document as your research plan (Writing Project #1), and it is NOT the introduction to your research paper. It should focus on HOW your sources will work together to support your paper, not focus on the research topic itself.
Read the Rhetorical Considerations questions below to help guide you through your argument.
Review the course readings and course resources provided to help with the writing process.
If you are able, go ahead and schedule a UNLV Writing Center session with a consultant. They can help you at any point during the writing process (initial drafting, revising and editing, final proofreading). You can even make multiple appointments. Just give yourself enough time to work on their suggestions before the due date.
Read the Criteria section above.
Your annotated bibliography critical introduction should address ALL of the following questions (this should be in paragraph form):
What topic have you been researching this semester? Why is this topic significant?
What is your research question?
How did you investigate your research question? What search strategies did you use to locate sources (e.g. where did you look, what keywords did you use, what successes or challenges did you have?)
What types of sources did you find?
Based on your research, what is your tentative thesis, claim, or position?
How do you plan to use the sources you’ve found to support your tentative claim (e.g. what sources will you use to provide background information, to support your claim, to refute your claim, etc.)?
What additional materials do you think you will need for your argumentative research paper?
Part 2: The Source Annotations provides a list of the sources you’ve found. You must include at least five (5) sources for the FINAL assignment, and at least three (3) of the sources must be scholarly, peer-reviewed sources.
NOTE: The human rights documents do NOT count as one of your research sources. However, you still have to include it on your References page.
Read What is an Academic Journal Article Anyway?
Read the UNLV Library Handout for using the CRAAP test to evaluate sources.
Chapter 31: Creating an Annotated Bibliography (UNLV Writes) has sample annotations. Library Resources also has a handout on Annotated Bibliographies with a sample annotation.
Each entry should include a complete APA citation PLUS a critical annotation (150-300 words). So, you will have at least 5 annotations.
Each annotation should summarize the source and evaluate the source based on its currency, authority, and relevance to your research project.
You must explain why you believe the source (author, publication, or website) is credible.
Write a complete APA style citation for the source?
After EACH citation, your source annotation should address ALL of the following questions (this should be in paragraph form):
What is the source (e.g. is it for a scholarly or public audience, is it a book, academic journal article, documentary, speech, website, video, etc.)? See What is an Academic Journal Article Anyway? and use Research Journal #4 as a reference.
Is the source peer-reviewed?
Who created the source (e.g. who is the author, publisher, or organization)? How does the creator information impact this source’s appropriateness for your own research project?
Why is this source credible? How do you know the author or publication is credible?
What is the purpose of the source (e.g. is the purpose to inform, to persuade, to entertain, to sell, etc.)?
Overall, why is this source appropriate for an academic research-based project?
How would you summarize this source for someone who is not familiar with it?
How current is the source (e.g. when was it published, does the source reflect the most current understanding of the topic)? How does the currency impact this source’s appropriateness for your own research project?
How does the source relate to your own research project and your tentative claim?
Rhetorical Considerations:
Author: How do you wish to represent yourself in your annotated bibliography, and how will you achieve that representation?
Purpose: Given that your purpose is to articulate the evolution of your research project and to evaluate the sources given your research question, how will you achieve this purpose in your critical annotated bibliography?
Audience: Given that your audience is your ENG 102 instructor, how will this audience inform the content, structure, or language of your critical annotated bibliography?
Genre: Given that your genre is an critical annotated bibliography, what are the genre conventions (structure, design, formatting, language usage, and mechanics) that you need to apply?
Content: What information will you include in your critical annotated bibliography about your topic and your research strategies? How much information will you need to include in the annotated bibliography introduction and the source annotations, and in what order will you present the information?
Structure: How will you structure your critical annotated bibliography? What structure will help your audience easily understand your topic and its significance?
Language: What linguistic choices will you make in your critical annotated bibliography? How formal or informal should your language be? How can you revise and edit your language to meet your rhetorical purpose in the genre?

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