An annotated bibliography is a common college writing project that you will probably be asked to do in various college classes. Often, it is one of the first steps in a larger research project. A “bibliography” is a list of citations of sources and “annotated” means a discussion. So an annotated bibliography combines citations and discussion. You’ll learn how this works in this assignment.

This writing assignment will help you to improve your skills in five areas:

• finding/narrowing a topic and a research question,
• finding relevant information on your topic from sources,
• using academic criteria to evaluate the quality of a source,
• summarizing information carefully,
• using APA style to cite sources.

The final draft of your annotated bibliography will be due on Tuesday, April 30. You will submit it as an assignment through Canvas. It is worth 100 points.

In this assignment, you will find information about the topic/problem you are researching for the rest of the quarter, and you will create a research question that you care about, are interested in and that is “researchable” in for college work. You’ll to start learn a lot about your topic/problem through your reading of source information. You will write an “annotated bibliography”: a presentation of citations and discussion of sources on a particular topic. Your paper will include three main elements:  1) an APA citation, 2) a summary paragraph and 3) an evaluation paragraph for each source.

The assignment require at least five sources, from websites, books, other media and the TCC library’s research databases. The assignment requires you to include at least two from the databases, and at least one of those must be peer-reviewed. We will learn to examine sources closely, based on specific criteria and to decide whether they are appropriate for college writing and relevant to your topic.

STEPS ALONG THE WAY:

1. You will select the topic/problem that you selected to research this quarter. I’d like you to discover, as you research, things that you really want to know more about, that care about. You will be researching, reading and writing about this topic/problem for the rest of the quarter.
2. Narrow your topic and create a research question that names the topic you are studying and states specifically what you want to find out about it. This must be in question form, such as: Why do only about 25% of students who start community college complete in three years or less? Why do 80% of students who start community college plan to earn a bachelor’s degree but only 14% achieve that goal? What can community colleges do to help students who cannot afford to eat good food regularly?What community colleges are doing innovative work to ensure that more students graduate? Note: Your research question may change based on what you find through your research, and that’s ok!
3. Do research to find information (sources) on the topic/problem. You will need to find at least two sources using the TCC library’s research databases and at least three other sources. Again, remember that your research question and research path may change based on what you find through your research.
4. Evaluate/assess the reliability and quality of the sources. The TCC library’s framework for evaluating sources will be our main resource to learn about criteria.

Audience: Imagine yourself writing for an audience of college teachers, students and administrators who are interested in your topic and want to understand more about the problem. They want to make changes at TCC that will ensure that more students complete their degrees within three years. They need to see plenty of information from credible sources to make changes.

Key terms we will learn about and use in this assignment include:

• Annotated bibliography
• Research question
• Library research databases
• Summary
• Evaluation
• Credibility
• Citations: APA style
• 1st and 3rdperson point of view
• Quoting, paraphrasing and summarizing an author’s ideas 

A strong paper will include the following elements:

• A summary and evaluation of at least five sources (more is ok), at least two from the TCC library’s research databases. Of those two, at least one must be a source that is peer-reviewed/scholarly. This annotated bibliography assignment requires one well-explained paragraph of summary and one well-explained paragraph of evaluation (about 7-10 sentences each) for each source.
• Strong vocabulary and clear, well-written sentences
• APA-style citations.
• The final draft should demonstrate that you understand the expectations of academic writing and include few errors.