Part I: Research Narrative (500+ words – 2 pages)
The first section of the assignment will be a first-person narrative that tells the story of your research journey. It will let the reader know how your process began and progressed. I’m interested here in the chronological path of your process. Use the following questions as starting points or guides to tell your story:
Why did this question interest you? Why does it deserve to be answered?
How did you begin your research? What did you do next? Why?
What sources did you uncover?
What did you agree or disagree with?
How did the sources affect your thinking?
How do the sources relate to each other?
The first section of your assignment could be seen as a mini-version of a longer exploratory essay. As you can imagine, you can be drafting this section throughout the process.
Part II: Annotated Bibliography (minimum of 4 entries); at least two (2) sources should be accessed using the HCCS library databases.
An annotated bibliography is like an expanded Works Cited (MLA) page where your reader sees not only the formal citation but also a paragraph containing a summary and explanation of each source. You will list your sources alphabetically according to MLA citation style (Links to an external site.) as you would in a Works Cited page. Each formal citation will be followed by a short paragraph containing:
A description and summary of the work (100-150 words). Take a few sentences to summarize the source and give the reader the main point of the source (or thesis, if appropriate) and a general sense of the whole work. Observe the conventions of summary in your annotations (author tags, present tense verbs, objectivity).
Then, include an indication of the credibility, authority, or bias of the source (2 sentences). Some ways you can demonstrate credibility are by using the CRAAP Test (Links to an external site.), listing how you found the source (such as via the HCC library databases), saying the source comes from a respected publication (such as The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, or a peer-reviewed scholarly journal), or noting the author has credentials relevant to the source.
A statement of how the source might fit into an argument, that is, how it might be useful for your own researched argument.
Your sources here will reflect how your research develops. There is no expectation that these sources are the ones that will appear in the final paper or that they will be “balanced,” that is, so many “for” or “against” an issue. In fact, it is unlikely that all the sources will appear in the final essay. Also, resist the impulse to select only those sources that support any opinions or judgments you may already have about your topic. Reserve judgment, and see where the research leads you.
NOTE: Your sources must be from the last decade. Sources that are more than ten (10) years old will not count towards your assignment. Also, you may not use Wikis, Blogs, Personal Websites and ProCon.org as cited sources.
