Literature Review and Annotated Bibliography (and Photocopies) Assignment

Before you begin, you should read 

1.  "Literature Reviews" from the  University of North Carolina at http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts_pdf/Literature_Review.pdf   This is thorough and requires Adobe Acrobat to read because it is a pdf file.   A read-only version is online at http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/literature_review.html and 

2."How To Prepare an Annotated Bibliography" at http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/research/skill28.htm

Procedural Suggestion - I would recommend doing the first draft of your annotated bibliography first.  This should greatly help you in deciding whether to go with a chronological, thematic, problem-oriented or other method of organizing your literature review.

Format Requirements:

1. Cover Page with  title, date, and your name.  

2.  One inch to 1-1/4 inch margins on all sides. Each page is numbered and author’s last name given. -  12 point or larger font - double-spacing.  For the annotated bibliography the entries should be single-spaced, double-spacing between the entries.

3. Use one of the following bibliographical formats: MLA or University of Chicago Manual of Style (A or B). These are described in detail in Harvey, Writing with Sources. You may wish to use The Landmark Citation Machine online at http://www.landmark-project.com/citation_machine/index.php   to put your sources in MLA format. Please do not use APA format. Note that bibliographies use hanging indents.  CAREFUL AND CORRECT CITATION IS REQUIRED. WHEN IN DOUBT, CITE. Remember that simply paraphrasing or changing every third word is not OK. Quote and cite or radically summarize and cite. Use quotation marks when quoting or indent if quote is five lines or longer. Guessing at where your information comes from is not OK. Use page numbers in your in-text citations, footnotes or endnotes. Book or journal titles are italicized or underlined.  

4. The Literature Review should be approximately 4 to 5 pages long not counting the annotated bibliography. For the annotated bibliography each entry under a source should be approximately 150 - 200 words long.

A.  Literature Review - Your literature review will include at minimum six sources. (roughly the equivalent of six 12 to 20 page articles or book chapters. Brownie points and favorable grading if you read whole books. Also, if it is clear you carefully chose and evaluated the sources.). The sources may include multiple chapters from an anthology, but not just from one anthology.

B. Annotated Bibliography

Your annotated bibliography will include at minimum six sources. (roughly the equivalent of six 12 to 20 page articles or book chapters. Brownie points and favorable grading if you read whole books. Also, if it is clear you carefully chose and evaluated the sources.). The sources may include multiple chapters from an anthology, but not just from one anthology.

In addition to a brief summary of each source's content you must include evaluative comments.

An annotation should include the following:

1. Descriptive Comments -  Summary of the content.  What is the article, book or chapter about?  What is its main thesis/theses?  Comments on how the source relates to the specific topic you are writing your paper on.  What contribution  does it seek to make?  Etc.

2. Information about Intended Audience and Author (his or her authority, professional affiliation, contributions to the field/topic, etc.)

3. How the book or article compares and contrasts to other works on the topic that are part of the bibliography.

4. Methods/approaches used by author.

5.  Strengths or weaknesses. 

NOTE: If a work is listed in the notes or bibliography in more than one of your sources, especially reference sources, it is likely considered a key work in the field. When you read your sources, jot down books or articles that are listed in the bibliographies or notes of more than one of your sources. Another guide both to narrow research and to assist in evaluation is to read several book reviews of any book you are considering reading. You can find book reviews through the Academic Premier, JSTOR, and Religion and Philosophy databases on the "Find Articles" section of the UI Library website. A key question about a journal is whether or not it is peer-reviewed. Books or journals published by well-regarded publishers are often, although not always, reliable sources. These publishers includes presses such as Blackwell, Brill, Cambridge University Press, Harvard University Press, MIT Press, Oxford University Press, Routledge, SUNY Press, T and T Clark, Temple University Press, University of Chicago Press, University of California Press, and Yale University Press.  For further help in researching and evaluating, please also check out my Research Process Page.  More information about critically evaluating sources can be found at Cornell library's discussion of critically evaluating sources at http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/research/evaluate.html

Annotated Bibliography Information and examples at http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/research/skill28.htm

C. Photocopies of all journal articles and book chapters included in your annotated bibliography.

Academic Honesty - As with all assignments, plagiarism is totally unacceptable.  You will receive at minimum a zero on the assignment. For the Dean of Students' Academic Integrity site which includes UI Policies and Student Academic Dishonesty Resources see http://www.students.uidaho.edu/default.aspx?pid=45708