The Right to Free Healthcare in the United States and How Our Government Should Handle the Issue (Literature & Language Annotated Bibliography)

Annotated Bibliography

ASSIGNMENT



An annotated bibliography is a list of your sources – those read to date or those credited in your final essay – that includes a short summary or an annotation for each source entry. This common assignment quickly informs a reader about the direction and depth of your research. It also demonstrates your mastery of two major college research skills: identifying a source and writing a summary. Summaries help you to understand the source material, and they can act as a test as to whether or not you do comprehend the source accurately, which can often be difficult with scholarly sources.



When you develop an annotated bibliography, clarify two points from the beginning. First, find out which format you are expected to use as you identify your sources. Next, determine what your annotation should do – summarize only, add evaluation, or meet a special requirement (such as interpretation). A summary is a brief, neutral explanation in your own words of the thesis or main points covered in a source. In contrast, an evaluation is a judgment of the source, generally assessing its accuracy, reliability, or relevance to your research question or thesis.



For this assignment, you will be doing both: a brief summary and an evaluation. The evaluation is the longer part – hence, you will be doing an evaluative annotated bibliography.



An EVALUATIVE annotation consists of two parts.

The first part is the citation entry for the source (using MLA format). This will be the bibliography entry that will appear on your works cited page.



The second part consists of a paragraph: the annotation. The purpose of the annotation is, first, to explain the main idea of the source in your own words and, second, to inform the reader of the relevance, accuracy, and quality of the source. It is NOT merely a summary of the source.



Why is this an important part of the Research Process?



Creating an annotated bibliography calls for the application of a variety of intellectual skills: concise writing, thoughtful evaluation, and informed library research.



It prepares you to write your research paper. When you write an evaluative annotation for a source, you will read more critically instead of just collecting information.



You begin with: “What is the main point of this source?” Then an evaluative annotation answers the following further questions: "How and why is this a valid academic source for my research project?"



Evaluative annotations generally comment on the credibility of the author, the validity of the research, and the relevance to your topic.



Credibility of the Author

The first step in evaluating a source is determining the authority of the author who produced the material. To determine authority, you'll want to evaluate the trustworthiness (credentials, education, experience, etc.) of an author.

Is the author formally educated in the subject?



Does the author work for a university or research center?



Is the author a recognized scholar in the subject?



Does the author have an established history of research and writing on the subject?





Validity of the Research

To ensure that the research is valid, you want to determine the quality of the research used to support the argument being made.

Does the author thoroughly cite all the sources? (Saying "a study was done" is not a citation.)



Is there a list of sources at the end of the article?



Does the author's evidence support the claim?



Is the author's evidence objective research instead of personal narrative?



Does it come from a peer-reviewed publication (which means the research was evaluated by experts before it was published)?





Relevance to Your Topic

Does the information relate to one or more aspects of the issue you are discussing?



Can its evidence and conclusions be used to support different points that you’re making in your paper?



If the information is narrow in scope, can its conclusions be applied to your more generalized subject?





Follow these assignment guidelines very carefully:

You must have FIVE annotated bibliography entries.



At least THREE of the five must be articles from peer-reviewed scholarly journals (although you can certainly have more than two of these). All other sources must be reputable, academic sources from library databases. Any sources used from the general Internet will count as zeroes.



EACH of the FIVE annotated bibliographies must be at least 200 words, not counting the citation entry.



The TITLE of your annotated bibliography should reflect the focused subject of your research.



Each entry will begin with the MLA citation. Each entry will begin on its own page.



Follow MLA Manuscript Form guidelines. See library handout and other course materials.



The entries should be arranged in alphabetical order.



The body of your bibliographic entry will be your evaluation, where you provide a brief summary, comment on the credibility of the author, the validity of the research, and the relevance to your topic. Note: you can provide information from the source here (in paraphrased form) as you comment on it. You should not be quoting from the source.



Be sure to edit and proofread your work.





IMPORTANT: DO NOT copy and paste information from abstracts or book reviews. This is considered plagiarism. If you copy and paste from a source and use it as part of your annotation, you will earn a zero on this assignment.



GRADING



Grading is 20 points per entry X 5 entries = 100 points.



Breakdown is:



MLA Citation = 5 points

Either full credit (accurate citation) or no credit (inaccurate citation, no partial credit for incorrect citations)



Evaluation = 15 points

Broken down as follows:

Accurate summary = 5 points

Validity of evaluation = 5 points

Quality of writing (MLA paraphrasing/summarizing with in-text citations, and grammar) = 5 points

Partial credit may be awarded





REQUIREMENTS



At least 200 words per summary

+

5 sources

At least 1,000 words to the bibliography (not counting citation entries)