PLEASE GO THROUGH THE GIVEN INSTRUCTION IN THIS ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPGY.
Major Paper Three Assignment
The topic you choose for this assignment will be used for Major Paper Four. You are doing the early work for the next essay: exploring your topic, finding sources, and working on a tentative thesis.
For your second major assignment, you’ll communicate your exploration, research, and reflection as you listen to, evaluate, and analyze the conversation surrounding an ethical issue or problem relevant to your life, your future profession, or something you are interested in.
This assignment won’t be a formal essay but a document that demonstrates your engagement with the research process. At its completion, your assignment will consist of three (3) parts, each of them recording the steps you’ve taken in researching your ethical problem or issue, understanding your sources, and evaluating the direction you’ll take for the final research-supported argumentative essay. This assignment will tell your research story from inquiry (exploration of a research question) to claim (tentative thesis).
The most important thing to understand is that this is not an assignment you can write in one sitting from beginning to end. It’s a construction project that, in many ways, builds from the inside out.
Think of the finished product in terms of the following general outline:
Part I: Exploratory Narrative (250+ words)
The first section of the assignment will be a 1st person narrative that tells the story of your intellectual journey, beginning with your research question. You should use your research question as the title of the document. This portion of the assignment will let the reader know how your process began and progressed, what sources you found, what they were saying, and where they led you. I’m interested here in the chronological path of your process. As you can imagine, you can be drafting this section throughout the process. Consider also that books, articles, database materials, and websites are not the only relevant sources available. An interview with someone in your field, for example, might give you further insight and background into the question.
Important: 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’s unlikely that all the sources will appear in the final paper. 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.
Part II: Annotated Bibliography (minimum of 3 entries – 100+ words each).
An annotated bibliography is like an expanded Works Cited (MLA) or References (APA) page where your reader sees not only the formal citation but a paragraph containing a summary and explanation of each source. You’ll list your sources alphabetically according to MLA or APA citation style as you would in a Works Cited or References page. Regardless of which citation style you choose, each formal citation must be followed by a short paragraph containing a description and summary, an indication of the credibility, authority, or bias of the source, and a statement of how the source might fight into an argument.
I will accept MLA or APA
APA
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/general_format.html
MLA
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_formatting_and_style_guide.htmlLinks to an external site.
Part III: Reflection and Tentative Thesis (200+ words)
The final section will give the reader a sense of where your research stands now, what’s left to be done, and what conclusions you may have drawn from participating in the conversation surrounding your question. Like the first section of the assignment, 1st person makes sense here. You can think of your final document as a rhetorical sandwich: an objective 3rd person annotated bibliography between two 1st person narratives with a little form added on as a garnish.
Conclude Part III with your tentative thesis. What stand can you take, now that you’ve looked at the sources? Will you have a definitional claim? An evaluative claim? A causal claim? A proposal? The thesis is tentative, normally 1-2 sentences, and can be revised or changed in the final assignment.
