Annotated Bibliography Assignment
1. Your topic must fit the guidelines for the assignment proposal must connect to self-improvement.
Instructions: Before drafting #2, you will prepare an annotated bibliography of five sources.
Assignment Checklist
1. Your Annotated Bibliography must follow the format of the example in Module 10B. It, however, should not include marginal comments as the example
does. When reviewing the example in Word, you can turn off the comments by choosing “no markup” in the Review tab.
2. Two of your five sources must be books—ebooks are acceptable. This requirement is worth 10 points.
3. Five annotations. An annotation has two parts. 1) The Works Cited entry. 2) The annotation.
4. The five annotations must be in alphabetical order according to the Works Cited entries.
5. Each annotation must be 75 plus words. If any of the five entries is less than 75 words, you cannot earn more than half credit for the assignment. Aim for a
range of 75-125 words and four or more sentences. Go longer if you wish. However, the annotated bibliography is a genre of writing that rewards brevity.
6. Each annotation will have three parts. 1. An appraisal of the author’s credibility, expertise, and significance. 2. The summary of the work. This part is
generally longer than the rest, at least two sentences. 3. Your best guess about how you might use this source in your . If it turns out that you will not be
using the source, explain why. Missing any of these three parts in any of your annotations limits your earning no more than half credit.
Annotation Example
Arnold, Carrie, and B. Timothy Walsh. Next to Nothing : A Firsthand Account of One
Teenager’s Experience with an Eating Disorder. E-book, Oxford University Press, 2007.
Carrie Arnold, a science writer who is active in advocacy about eating disorders, developed anorexia as an adolescent and nearly lost her life to the disease.
Her co-author Timothy B. Walsh, a professor of pediatrics at Columbia University, is one of America’s leading authorities on eating disorders and established
the Eating Disorders Research Unit at New York State Psychiatric Institute. In Next to Nothing, Arnold tells the story of her descent into anorexia, how and
why she fell victim to this mysterious illness, and how she was able to seek help and recover after years of therapy and hard work. Now an adult, Arnold uses
her own experiences to offer practical advice and guidance to young adults with an eating disorder or who are at risk for developing one. I will use Carrie’s
story to explain what eating disorders are and how harmful they are.
Criteria for “Heavy” Sources
If a source does not meet one of the guidelines below, it is light. Use your light sources to exceed the minimum requirement of twelve sources. Using more
than 15 sources to support your thesis will convince your professors that you have a strong work ethic.
1. Over 1500 words.
2. Source is from an established publication. You may have to do a little internet research to verify this. Are the publication’s other authors well-known enough
to merit a Wikipedia page or fill the first couple of pages of Google results? You could also go here: https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/ For a news outlet you
will get a quick overview of its political bias and track record for factual reporting.
3. The named author meets one or more of the following standards: has other published works (books, articles, s, etc.), teaches at a or university, is well
known in his or her field, or has a personal connection to the topic that supersedes the need for special training in that field. For example, a person who lost
his home to Superstorm Sandy may be a credible source for an on the effects of climate change even though he or she is not a scientist.
4. The author provides quotations and paraphrases from sources who meet the standards given above in number three.
