• Arguing to Inquire
  
• Arguing to Convince
  
• Arguing to Persuade
  
• Arguing to Mediate
  

Each of these essays will require reading and research because you have to know a subject before you can write about it. To help assure that you do the necessary work, an annotated bibliography will be required for each of the four essays. This bibliography will be turned in a week before each essay is due. See your course outline for the dates that your assignments are due. Each bibliography will be graded on a ten point scale (A=100-90, B=89-80, etc). The grades for the four bibliographies will be averaged and will count as thirty percent of your final grade.

What is an Annotated Bibliography?

To understand what an annotated bibliography is, look at the meaning of the two words that make up the term.

First, a bibliography is a list of books. The word is derived from two Greek words, biblion which means book and graphein which means write. The American Heritage Dictionary defines the word as meaning, "1. A list of the works of a specific author or publisher. 2.a. A list of writings relating to a given subject . . . . A list of writings used or considered by an author in preparing a particular work. 3.a. The description and identification of the editions, dates of issue, authorship, and typography of books or other written material. b. A compilation of such information. "

So, a bibliography is a list of books, often with specific information about the books such as editions, dates of issue, etc. In academic and professional writing, authors include bibliographies for the books and articles that they have consulted in writing their own books or articles.

The purpose of including a bibliography is twofold: first authors must give credit for the ideas they use that come from other people. They must give credit where credit is due. To use the words or ideas of another without acknowledgement is intellectual stealing and is called plagiarism. Professionals are fired for plagiarism and students are failed.

The second reason for including a bibliography is that it is a means of facilitating communication among students, professionals, and others interested in a particular topic. A bibliography points a reader to other sources on the same topic that he/she may find useful. It provides a way for a researcher to burrow into a topic and to work his way back to the seminal writings and the definitive works. When reading on a topic, take note of the names of authors and titles of articles that appear again and again. You want to make sure that you read these.

In recent times the traditional term bibliography has been replaced by the term works cited, the reason for the change is that it is no longer just books and articles on the library shelves that researchers use but also materials in electronic form such as CD's, DVD's, and web pages. So the more general term works cited includes these as well as books and journals in hardcopy.

An annotation is an explanatory note or comment. An annotation is a note added to a document to clarify it. An annotated edition of a book has notes that explain the meanings of technical or archaic words, historical or literary allusions, parallels to other works by the same or different authors, biographical references, or any of a number of other things.

Look at this page for an example of a story that has been annotated.

An annotation on a bibliography is a note that comments on the content and usefulness of the source. It tells the reader what the book (or article or webpage or whatever) is about. It notes the kind of specific information that it contains and it evaluates the usefulness of the information for the writer's purpose. It answers such questions as the following:

• What kind of information in particular does it contain that is helpful?
  
• Does it confirm information I have read elsewhere?
  
• Does it present arguments that effectively refute what another writer says?
  
• Does it define key terms connected to the topic?
• Does it give historical background?
  
• Does it quote facts and figures that are useful?
  
• Does the author clearly state the reasons that support his thesis?
  
• Are these strong and valid reasons?
  
• Does the writer quote other sources that I might use?
  
• Is the information valid? Is it supported by what other writers and researchers report?
  
• Is the source of the information reputable and reliable? Does it come from a web page sponsored by a university or professional group, or is the authorship unknown?
  
• Does the source reveal obvious bias? Does the author or publisher have an axe to grind?
  

These questions do not exhaust the possibilities but merely suggest the kinds of questions that you might think about in writing your annotation.

Preparing your Annotated Bibliography

In this course you will use the documentation style developed by the Modern Languages Association or MLA. Explanation of MLA documentation and examples are given in your grammar handbook. My Links Page will take you to web pages that are helpful. Click on the button below to see my Links Page.

After each book or article or other source that you cite according to MLA documentation style, you will then write your annotation. Annotations may vary in length from one to several paragraphs depending on what you need to say about each source. Be detailed enough so that what you write will be a help in recalling and locating helpful information. Remember, the annotations are meant to aid you in writing your essay. You may need to refer to a source again later in the semester, and a clear and detailed characterization of a source may save you time and prevent frustration.

Each annotated bibliography must include at least five sources and must be at least 500 words (excluding the bibliographic citations themselves). There is no limit on length, but all your annotations should be concise, informative, and correct. Longer papers that multiply errors simply provide more justification for a poor grade. Microsoft Word will tell you how many words there are in a document.

Do not rely solely on a Google searh of the World Wide Web for your information. Go to your nearest campus library and ask the reference librarian to show you how to search the periodical data bases. Two sources that you should be sure to look at are Opposing Viewpoints and Facts on File. Using these will save you a lot of time.