Final Project: Literature Review-Annotated Bibliography Assignment Due May 11 (200 Points).
See annotated bibliography guidelines below.
Choose any topic in your textbook that interests or puzzles you about the role or effect of the media in the United States. Next, frame the topic as a research question, which now becomes the title of your paper.
In your annotated bibliography presentation, start with an introduction of the topic for an intelligent but uninitiated reader who is not as familiar with the topic as you are. Secondly, describe the rationale for choosing this topic (you may wish to study the topic in your textbook to help strengthen your reasoning).
Thirdly, under method of study, summarize each research article you selected in the literature (peer reviewed research articles published in communication academic journals) to show the relationship between each article and your topic of interest (see annotated bibliography format attached).
Finally, under conclusion, provide an interpretation of the topic, similar to an executive summary of the sources in your methods section.
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Choosing the right research topics
Just a Reminder: The literature review topic must come from the textbook and must be researchable, which means, you should be able to find at least 10 research articles about the topic in the WSU library communication databases. Try writing down on paper, several topics from the textbook to ultimately choose the one that interests you the most. Then break down the topic into smaller chunks of issues that are related to it.
Once you have settled on a particular topic, go to the WSU library homepage to search the Databases by Keyword/Title/Subject for peer reviewed research articles, or send email to subject librarian for communication, Shu Qian, .
Some communication research topics
These are broad topics that could be narrowed down to specific interests or angles:
Media and Body image
Media and Censorship
Media and Children’s programming
Media and Advertising
Media and Copyright
Media and Freedom of speech
Media and Materialism
Media and Stereotypes
Media and Feminism
Media and Racism
Media and Ownership
Media and Minorities
Media and Political correctness
Media and Portrayal of women
Media and Reality television
Media and Talk radio.
Media and Television violence
Etc.,
Guidelines for Annotated Bibliography
See video links for samples: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rsNakv8PNY and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxkhja-bxDg
What’s an annotated bibliography?
An annotated bibliography is a summary and/or evaluation of list of sources, in this case, from peer-reviewed academic journals.
Your annotations will do the followings.
Paraphrase: What are the main arguments? What is the point of this article? What topics are covered? If someone asked what this article is about, what would you say? The length of your annotations will determine how detailed your summary is. For more on paraphrasing sources without plagiarizing, see part 2 below.
Evaluate: After summarizing a source, it may be helpful to evaluate it. Is it a useful source? How does it compare with other sources in your bibliography? Is the information reliable? Is this source biased or objective? What is the goal of this source? For more on evaluating resources, see Part 3 below.
Reflect: Once you’ve summarized and assessed a source, you need to ask how it fits into your research. Was this source helpful to you? How does it help you shape your argument? How can you use this source in your research project? Has it changed how you think about your topic?
Why should I need an annotated bibliography?
To learn about your topic: Writing an annotated bibliography is excellent preparation for a research project. Just collecting sources for a bibliography is useful, but when you have to write annotations for each source, you’re forced to read each source more carefully. You begin to read more critically instead of just collecting information. To help you formulate a thesis: Every good research paper is an argument.
The purpose of research is to state and support a thesis. So a very important part of research is developing a thesis that is debatable, interesting, and current. Writing an annotated bibliography can help you gain a good perspective on what is being said about your topic. By reading and responding to a variety of sources on a topic, you’ll start to see what the issues are, what people are arguing about, and you’ll then be able to develop your own point of view.
What should I do before writing an annotated bibliography?
1. Roughly how many sources should you include? At least 10.
2. What types of sources (academic journal articles only)? Yes.
3. Should you summarize, synthesize, or critique your sources by discussing a common theme or issue? Yes.
4. Should you evaluate your sources? Yes.
5. Should you provide subheadings and other background information, such as definitions and/or a history? Yes.
What’s the format of annotated bibliography?
1. The bibliographic information: Generally, though, the bibliographic information of the source (the title, author, publisher, date, etc.) is written in either MLA or APA format. For more help with formatting, see the MLA and APA handout in the Information page of your course website.
2. The annotations: The annotations for each source are written in paragraph form. The lengths of the annotations vary from a paragraph to a page.
Part 2: Paraphrasing
A paraphrase is…
1. your own rendition of essential information and ideas expressed by someone else, presented in a new form.
2. one legitimate way (when accompanied by accurate documentation) to borrow from a source.
3. a more detailed restatement than a summary, which focuses concisely on a single main idea.
Paraphrasing is a valuable skill because…
1. it is better than quoting information from an undistinguished passage.
2. it helps you control the temptation to quote too much.
3. the mental process required for successful paraphrasing helps you to grasp the full meaning of the original.
6 Steps to Effective Paraphrasing
Reread the original passage until you understand its full meaning.
Set the original aside, and write your paraphrase on a note card.
Jot down a few words below your paraphrase to remind you later how you envision using this material. At the top of the note card, write a key word or phrase to indicate the subject of your paraphrase.
Check your rendition with the original to make sure that your version accurately expresses all the essential information in a new form.
Use quotation marks to identify any unique term or phraseology you have borrowed exactly from the source.
Record the source (including the page) on your note card so that you can credit it easily if you decide to incorporate the material into your paper.
Some examples:
The original passage: Students frequently overuse direct quotation in taking notes, and as a result they overuse quotations in the final [research] paper. Probably only about 10% of your final manuscript should appear as directly quoted matter. Therefore, you should strive to limit the amount of exact transcribing of source materials while taking notes. Lester, James D. Writing Research Papers. 2nd ed. (1976): 46-47.
A legitimate paraphrase: In research papers students often quote excessively, failing to keep quoted material down to a desirable level. Since the problem usually originates during note taking, it is essential to minimize the material recorded verbatim (Lester 46-47).
An acceptable summary: Students should take just a few notes in direct quotation from sources to help minimize the amount of quoted material in a research paper (Lester 46-47).
A plagiarized version: Students often use too many direct quotations when they take notes, resulting in too many of them in the final research paper. In fact, probably only about 10% of the final copy should consist of directly quoted material. So it is important to limit the amount of source material copied while taking notes.
Part 3: Source Evaluation
Evaluating sources is an important skill. It’s been called an art as well as work—much of which is detective work. You have to decide where to look, what clues to search for, and what to accept. You may be overwhelmed with too much information or too little. The temptation is to accept whatever you find. But don’t be tempted. Learning how to evaluate effectively is a skill you need both for your course papers and for your life.
When writing research papers, you will also be evaluating sources as you search for information. You will need to make decisions about what to search for, where to look, and once you’ve found material on your topic, if it is a valid or useful source for your writing.
Evaluating Bibliographic Citations
When searching for information in library catalogues and online article databases such as EbscoHost or Proquest Direct, you will first find a bibliographic citation entry. A bibliographic citation provides relevant information about the author and publication as well as short summary of the text.
Before you read a source or spend time hunting for it, begin by looking at the following information in the citation to evaluate whether it’s worth finding or reading. Consider the author, the title of the work, the summary, where it is, and the timeliness of the entry. You may also want to look at the keywords to see what other categories the work falls into. Evaluate this information to see if it is relevant and valid for your research.
Evaluating While Reading
After you have asked yourself some questions about the source and determined that it’s worth your time to find and read that source, you can evaluate the material in the source as you read through it.
