Annotated Bibliography Assignment



Annotated Bibliography Assignment (p. 1)

Explanatory Report Assignment (p. 2)

Research-Based Proposal Assignment (p. 3-5)

Annotated Bibliography Assignment

Annotated bibliographies provide brief overviews or summaries of articles related to a specific topic. Often they are compiled in order to demonstrate what sources are available on a topic a scholar is considering studying.

For this assignment, you will find, read, and create annotations for scholarly articles related to a problem or concern that you have identified on Purdue’s campus. Later this term, you will synthesize these sources in an explanatory report. Then you will combine this archival research with field research to develop a research-based proposal to address the problem you identified. Therefore it is important to select a topic that interests you and that you believe is a genuine concern for the Purdue Community.

In the past, students have addressed campus topics such as:

▪ Recycling options

▪ Orientation programs for students who do not live in residence halls

▪ Signage in Grant Street parking garage

▪ Security at residence halls

Guidelines and Criteria for Evaluation:

Your annotated bibliography should follow these guidelines:

I. Include a brief, one to two paragraph introduction of your topic. This introduction in some ways acts as a summary of the campus problem or concern that you have identified, but its primary purpose is to introduce the sources you have annotated and to explain how they relate to each other.

II. The bibliography includes annotations for at least eight sources that you might use in your explanatory report and research-based proposal.

A. At least four of these sources must be scholarly journals; at least two sources must be publicly available on the Web.

B. Provide bibliographic information for each source, just as you would in the references section of a paper. Use MLA or APA format for these citations.

C. Summarize each source in a one-paragraph annotation. These annotations should provide brief overviews of the sources. What are the key points addressed in the source?

Two copies of your rough draft are due on Monday, July 21. Your final draft is due on Wednesday, July 23. When you submit your final draft, you should attach the copies of your rough draft and your peers’ comments.

I encourage you to visit the Writing Lab (Heavilon 226, 494-3723) to obtain assistance with any part of the writing process.

Explanatory Report Assignment

The next step in working towards your research-based proposal is to explain what other people have written about the problem or concern that you have identified. In this paper, you should synthesize and integrate your annotated bibliography sources.

Remember that your primary purpose is to explain the problem or concern. You might find it necessary to compare and contrast your sources, highlighting agreements and dissonance. When you note disagreement, you might choose to evaluate the sources to determine which source you think best addresses the concern. Later in the semester, you will have an opportunity to add to this conversation in your research-based proposal.

Guidelines

Your explanatory report should synthesize at least five (5) sources, and at least four (4) of your sources must be from scholarly journals. Your paper should be four (4) to six (6) pages long. This length is an approximation; the development of your topic should dictate the length. Make sure you adequately explain your main concept and any controversies surrounding it.

Your paper should be typed in a 12 point font and adhere to APA or MLA formatting guidelines.

Two (2) copies of your draft are due on Monday, July 28. Your revised draft is due at the beginning of class on Wednesday, July 30. When you submit your final paper, you also should turn in a copy of your rough draft and your peers’ review sheets.

Grading Criteria

▪ Do you have an identifiable thesis about a relevant concept, issue, or problem?

▪ Do you adequately support your thesis?

▪ Do you effectively integrate sources to support your thesis and to clarify your topic?

▪ Are your sources credible? If they are not, do you acknowledge their lack of credibility and address why you used them anyway?

▪ Does your report meet the assignment guidelines?

▪ Do you have an effective title for your report?

▪ Overall, is your report well organized and free of errors?

I encourage you to visit the Writing Lab (Heavilon 226, 494–3723) to obtain assistance with any part of the writing process.

If you have questions or concerns about the paper assignment, please contact me roses@purdue.edu

Research-based Proposal Assignment

For this assignment, you will write a proposal in which you argue for a solution to a problem that you have identified related to campus life at Purdue. You may work on this assignment alone or with one or two teammates. If you work as a group, you must collectively select one problem or concern to address in your proposal.

I would like you to keep in mind that proposals have three distinct parts:

▪ You will need to prove that the problem is a significant one that you have the time and resources to address.

▪ You will need to explore all of the alternatives for solving the problem and find out whether anyone on campus is already working on the problem. You don’t want to duplicate any work that’s already been done.

▪ Then, you will need to select the most feasible solution and offer evidence to support that choice. Your support should include both archival and field research.

Here are some ideas that students have proposed in the past with some success:

▪ Changing the type of soap in the soap dispensers in the residence hall where the student lives

▪ Establishing a fund for students who can’t afford the monthly dues of the Purdue Crew team

▪ Proposing a never-ending fruit bowl at a particular Co-Op

▪ Establishing a “buddy system” for freshmen engineering students to help them manage their time more wisely

Proposals generally make a problem known in very relevant terms, and then suggest a solution that is believable, feasible, and supportable. As a genre, proposals are intended to persuade an appropriate group of readers to respond to and/or implement a certain plan. Proposals can vary in their purpose: they may suggest a new or improved service; they may influence campus opinion on a policy; they may lobby for one side of a campus debate; they may promote a radical solution to an issue of campus concern; they may persuade a group to give moral or financial support; they may call for alternative social habits and customs.

Proposals can vary in their format: they can be designed as memos, petitions, flyers or brochures, advertisements, Web pages, essays, campaign literature, or letters. This requires a fair amount of research on the part of the proposal writer! Because proposals contain elements of argument and persuasion, they are well organized, and written with a deliberate arrangement of information that makes a compelling argument.

Parameters

While some of the model proposals we will examine include issues of national or international concern, it is important that you choose a problem that is close to you in relevance and locale (you will be focusing on problems at Purdue), so that you can accomplish the necessary research to become an authority on your topic in a short amount of time. You will also want to select the appropriate audience for your proposal because you will be using your proposal to address the individual or group of individuals who are in a position to solve it. You should also consider problems in areas in which you already have a degree of expertise or understanding.

You should use the following questions or similar ones to guide your inquiry:

▪ What’s a problem at Purdue that concerns me?

▪ Is this a problem for someone else, and if so, how?

▪ What do I think needs to be done to solve it?

▪ What types of solutions have already been proposed by others? What have their experiences investigating the problem taught them that I may not know?

▪ What group (or groups) would benefit from my getting involved? (i.e. determine who the stakeholders are)

▪ Who has the power to enact the change I am proposing? What are their primary concerns?

Format

Your rhetorical strategy (type and design of document) will depend upon the purpose of your proposal, your audience or intended readers, and how you want it to get in the hands of your audience. You might use colors, manipulate white space and margins, include data charts and graphs, and/or use photos. The possibilities are endless; however, please remember that the design must meet the needs of a real situation to which you want to respond, and the language in your proposal is more important than the design.

Length

Again, length will vary greatly depending on what your project is. I’ll accept no less than the equivalent of three pages of double-spaced 12 pt. type (about 750 words), but considering the scope and time allotted your project, I’d suggest that you write no more than twelve pages.

Presentation of Proposal in Progress

On Thursday, August 7, individuals and groups will present their proposals to the class. Your ten minute presentation should identify the problem you defined and explain your proposed solution.

Your presentation should be creative and informative. You may use overheads, handouts, or video clips to supplement your oral presentation. Every member of your group should participate in the presentation.

Remember that the audience for your presentation (your classmates) is not the same audience as the audience for your written proposal.

Additional Documentation

You (or your group) will need to prepare a cover letter (addressed to me) in which you reflect on the process of working on the proposal. You will need to reflect on the rhetorical decisions you made as you developed your proposal and be able to answer the following questions:

▪ How and why did you choose this particular problem?

▪ How did you identify the various stakeholders and their primary concerns?

▪ What were your most valuable sources of information?

▪ What were the major challenges of doing this project?

▪ What was the biggest compromise you had to make while negotiating your solution with the appropriate stakeholders?

▪ What does each of the involved parties have to lose and/or gain by adopting your proposal?

In addition, each group member should submit an individual assessment of the participation and effort by each group member.

Be prepared to submit these components with your final draft on August 7.

Final Notes

As always, I encourage you to visit the Writing Lab (Heavilon Hall 226) at any stage of the writing process. If you have any questions or concerns about the project assignment, please contact me. You may visit with me during my office hours or make an appointment to meet at an alternate time. You also may e–mail me at roses@purdue.edu

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