Word Count
Annotated Bibliography: 1,600 words
Assignment Reflection: ~300 words
Total word count: 1,900 words
Context
The pre-professional student organization of which you are a member has recently tasked its members to prepare white papers investigating the role of specific skills within the profession. You have been asked to write a white paper investigating the status of writing in this field (which you will complete in Assignment #2). To complete your white paper, you will collect primary and secondary data on the writing and communication practices of your pre-professional field. In Assignment #1, you will begin the research process by locating 6 secondary sources on your research topic, and then writing an annotated bibliography about those sources.
Task
Pick a Specific Research Topic: Choose a field or profession about which you would like to learn more about, and then research the way in which this field uses writing.
Find Four (peer-reviewed) Scholarly Research Articles about Writing (or Communication) in this Field: I recommend that you begin by finding at least 6-7 articles, so that you may narrow down to the four you want to use by quality and not availability. Most of the articles should be current, meaning they are no more than 10 years old. If you’re not able to find enough sources, that usually means you need to broaden your search terms.
Find Two Popular Sources: In addition to the 4 scholarly articles, you will also need to find at least 2 popular sources, like credible newspapers, magazine, or website sources, that discuss the writing practices in this field. Textbooks or instructional websites about writing in a specific profession (e.g., legal writing) can be a great resource here.
Use Resources to Locate and Utilize Sources: In order to complete these tasks we’ll be reading about how to locate and utilized secondary sources (i.e., Booth et al. (2016) Chapters 5 and 6Links to an external site.). We are also fortunate to have a librarian come to our class to explain how to conduct searches at the UCD Library.
Write the Annotated Bibliography:
What is an Annotated Bibliography? An annotated bibliography contains a citation, summary, and critical analysis about each of your 6 sources.
Why do people write them? Writing an annotated bibliography helps you keep track of, read, understand, and think about the information presented in complex secondary sources.
How do I write one? For each of the 6 secondary sources you’ve chosen, you will provide:
An accurate APA citation of the source
A 250-word annotation that includes each of the following:
Evaluation of Credibility
Briefly evaluate the credibility of your source in no more than one sentence. Briefly research elements of the source (authors, publication, format, or purpose) to determine whether it is peer-reviewed and scholarly or a credible popular source (refer to Booth et al. (2016) to learn more about evaluating credible sources).
Summary of Source
Provide a fair and objective summary of each source in your own words. Unfortunately, this is where most occurrences of plagiarism take place in UWP courses. Be sure to accurately explain the most important parts of the source (e.g., What was the methodology of the study? What were the results? Why are the results significant?).
Evaluate and critique the source.
Critique your source with a focus on the context of Assignment #2. Why is the source significant to your research or your white paper? How does it discuss or explain how writing is used in this profession? How might the study contribute to a trend in the research on this topic? Explain how the source is like other sources on this same topic and/or how the source differs. How might this information influence how you conceptualize your work as preprofessional in this field? How might you use this source in your white paper? How might your audience respond to this type of evidence?
Audience
The audience for Assignment #2 is the members of your pre-professional student organization on campus. As such, you should select secondary research that will speak to the needs of this audience. However, the audience for Assignment #1 is primarily me, as your instructor.
Format
At the top of the page, include a few sentences describing your selected research topic.
Include your list of sources (in alphabetical order by first author’s last name) with a full APA annotation (described above).
Finally, write a short paragraph at the end of your sources explaining your developing thoughts on your topic. Now that you have read your sources, what kinds of ideas are you developing about the writing/communication practices in your selected field or profession? What topics might you want to discuss in your white paper assignment based on these ideas? What else would your audience of your pre-professional club be interested in hearing about.
Purpose
The purpose of this assignment is for you to locate and analyze sources that will serve as the support to the arguments you will make in your white paper assignment. By selecting, assessing, and reflecting of credible sources, you will learn more about your topic and be better prepared to use these sources as evidence in the arguments you’ll be making about the writing practices in this field.
