Assignment 1

Assignment #1: Annotated Bibliography

Instructional Objectives

In this assignment students will:

• further developed their ability to read critically by reading and annotating articles and
• write annotations/summaries for articles on personal freedoms
• begin a working bibliography of sources using Bibme

Annotated Bibliography

An annotated bibliography is a bibliography Links to an external site. that gives a summary of each of the entries. The purpose of annotations Links to an external site. is to provide the reader with a summary and an evaluation of the source. Each summary should be a concise exposition of the source's central idea(s) and give the reader a general idea of the source's content. An annotation should include complete bibliographic information for the source.

Annotations/Summaries can be a useful tool to research writers because they allow writers to use entire books and large documents by condensing information into smaller, more manageable pieces. It is common for research writers to summarize entire works, sometimes as briefly as a single sentence. In some cases, a summary might occupy one or more paragraphs or be integrated into the discussion contained in one or more paragraphs. You can also use summaries to convey key information or ideas from a source without summarizing the entire source. You can summarize an entire source, or specific ideas and information from a source or a group of sources.

How-To Do Assignment #1

Assn. #1 Screencast: Summaries & Bibme Bibliography Maker

Watch the screencast. The screencast will walk you through completing Assignment #1: writing your annotations and inputting them and the article citations into Bibme Bibliography Maker Links to an external site..

Assignment Steps

Prepare:

Read the online Chapter 21: "Working with Sources and Avoiding Plagiarism." Watch the screencast above. Set up a free bibme Links to an external site. account.

Read:

• Webpage article: Arizona's Crazy Law Download Arizona's Crazy Law
   (http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2010/04/arizona-other-crazy-new-law-illegal-immigration-concealed-weapon-permit-gun-nut Links to an external site. )
• In-Print journal article: Privacy in Peril Download Privacy in Peril
   from The CQ Researcher • November 17, 2006 • Volume 16, Number 41. 
• Collection of Resources on SOPA: http://snip.it/collections/8050-SOPA Download http://snip.it/collections/8050-SOPA
   (Choose only one to read/watch)

You will only need to read pieces of "Privacy in Peril." It is a 24 page article full of great information that you will eventually read all of, but for now and for this assignment, concentrate on one section only. Summarize one section, but cite the whole article. Articles are posted above.

Annotate:

Read through the articles for a second time highlighting, underlining and taking notes of the main points in the margins as you go.

Summarize:

Write a summary of the main ideas/points for each article (2). Try to use your own words as you write your summary. Each summary should be a minimum of 5 sentences/125 words, typed. If one summary is longer than one page, it is too long.

Record Bibliographies:

Log into bibme Links to an external site. and record the bibliography information for both articles. The information you need is listed under each article. Make sure you use all of the information provided for each citation. To get started, just start adding the citations to a New Project. Choose website as your source type in the URL for the Arizona article and choose Journal Article - In-Print for the CQ Researcher article. Fill in the appropriate information in the correct places.

Next click the Annotation tab at the bottom and cut and paste your paragraph summary of the first article into the space provided. Repeat the same process for the second article. Once you've added the citations, name your project. Choose Modern Language Association (MLA) as your documentation style.

Important Note on the Use of URLs in MLA

MLA no longer requires the use of URLs in MLA citations. Because Web addresses are not static (i.e., they change often) and because documents sometimes appear in multiple places on the Web (e.g., on multiple databases), MLA explains that most readers can find electronic sources via title or author searches in Internet Search Engines.

For instructors who still wish to require the use of URLs, MLA suggests that the URL appear in angle brackets after the date of access. Break URLs only after slashes. Bibme will include URLs. You decide whether to use them or not. If you do, make sure it looks like the example below.

Prepare to Submit:

• Click the Save to Account button at the bottom right in Bibme.
• View your work. You should have two entries. Click Open & Edit if you need to make corrections.
• Choose the Download option and save your assignment to your computer.
• Open the document, put your full name, Class, Assignment #, and date on the top left of the page (not in the header - on the page). Add your last name and page number in the upper right header (MLA style).
• Change the Works Cited title to Annotated Bibliography and center it.
• Save the file to submit right here in Canvas.

Submit

• Make sure your assignment includes BOTH article summaries and citations and not just one. No rewrites on incomplete assignments.
• Click the Submit for Grading link on the right to submit your assignment. Upload your file.

Example Assignment

• Example Assignment #1 Download Example Assignment #1