In your Discourse Community Analysis, you identified a professional and / or academic discourse community of which you are a part (or are becoming a part). In your Genre Analysis, you described a genre that is commonly used within that community. In the Annotated Bibliography, you will identify a hot topic / issue / controversy / debate within your discourse community and conduct research about that topic through the library and web. You will identify at least ten sources about your topic (see below for more specific information about the types of sources), and you will summarize and evaluate each of those sources.

The Annotated Bibliography assignment will give you some practice with the UC librarys online databases, and well also talk about how to find and use credible sources in your research. Additionally, this assignment will give you experience in creating MLA or APA bibliographic citations for each of your sources.

Where to start:

To begin this assignment, you should do some brainstorming about your discourse community. What are some of the current hot topics being discussed and / or debated in your field or profession? Perhaps you have discussed some of these topics in some of your classes. Here are some ways to start brainstorming:

Search through the librarys databases to see if you can find topics related to your Discourse Community. To do so, check out the librarys Research Refresher for conducting research in English 2089: Research RefresherFinding articles, books, and more! – English Composition 2089: Researching Discourse – Research Guides at University of Cincinnati
talk to others in your discourse community to see if they have any suggestions (maybe try talking to some of your professors who teach classes related to your discourse community, or talk with some other students in your classes)
look through the other brainstorming suggestions in BBG Ch. 11 Exploring Topics & Creating a Research Proposal
Next, try to generate a research question related to your topic. For some information about research questions, see Bedford Book of Genres Ch. 11. Here are some examples of fields of study and research questions (some are adapted from BBG):

Health sciences, nursing: How can dietspecifically, monitoring the intake of sugar, calories, and sodiumhelp someone with diabetes manage the disease and avoid taking insulin?
Communications: How is race portrayed in the news media?
Composition and rhetoric, visual art, womens and gender studies: How do graphic novels subvert female stereotypes?
Education: What is the relationship between recess and academic performance of elementary school students?
Dental hygiene: How do oral piercings affect oral health?
Then, use your research question to guide your research into the topic. What do you want to know? How will you find out what others in your discourse community are saying about this topic? This will require you to return to the library databases / journals in your field of study and continue to discuss the topic with others in your field / profession.

Anatomy of an Annotated Bibliography

Once youve found your sources, your next step is to read them thoroughly and begin the process of writing an annotation and citation for each.

Each annotation in your Annotated Bibliography will correspond to one of your sources.
Each annotation includes two parts:
A bibliographic citation in MLA or APA format (it doesnt matter which you choose, just be consistent throughout the document)
An annotation (or note) with both a brief summary of the source (What is the source about? What are its main points or ideas?) and your own analysis or evaluation of the source (How might this source help shape your understanding or discussion of the topic? Has it changed how you think about your topic? If so, how and why?)
Below is a sample annotation and citation in MLA format from the Purdue Online Writing Lab. Some more examples can be found in BBG Ch. 11 (p. 310-311).

Lamott, Anne. Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. New York: Anchor Books, 1995. Print.

Lamotts book offers honest advice on the nature of a writing life, complete with its insecurities and failures. Taking a humorous approach to the realities of being a writer, the chapters in Lamotts book are wry and anecdotal and offer advice on everything from plot development to jealousy, from perfectionism to struggling with ones own internal critic. In the process, Lamott includes writing exercises designed to be both productive and fun.

Lamott offers sane advice for those struggling with the anxieties of writing, but her main project seems to be offering the reader a reality check regarding writing, publishing, and struggling with ones own imperfect humanity in the process. Rather than a practical handbook to producing and / or publishing, this text is indispensable because of its honest perspective, its down-to-earth humor, and its encouraging approach.

Chapters in this text could easily be included in the curriculum for a writing class. Several of the chapters in Part 1 address the writing process and would serve to generate discussion on students own drafting and revising processes. Some of the writing exercises would also be appropriate for generating classroom writing exercises. Students should find Lamotts style both engaging and enjoyable.

Assignment Goals

Practice conducting library and web research
Learn about, read, and cite scholarly / academic sources
Start making connections among multiple sources to prepare for writing a research paper
Required Sources

You will identify a total of 8 sources that will be useful to you as you research your topic more in-depth throughout the semester. Please include:

4 scholarly / academic journal articles
4 additional sources (these can be books, websites, blogs, forums, documentary films, additional scholarly articles, etc.)
Length

Each annotation should be 150-200 words (total assignment length: 1,200-1,600 words)
It is ok if you go over the word count
For your rough draft, you are only required to submit a draft of one annotation with its MLA bibliographic citation (I just want to see that you understand how to do the assignment)
For your final draft, please submit all eight annotations / citations
Due Dates

Rough draft (one annotation and citation): November 1 by 11:59pm
Final draft (eight annotations and citations): November 15 by 11:59pm