English 101: Rhetoric

Paper #2: Annotated Bibliography

Purpose: This assignment is designed to serve two purposes: 1- An Annotated Bibliography serves writers in that
they have identified the key points included in their sources and understand their usefulness for their papers; 2- An
Annotated Bibliography serves the readers in that they can determine whether these sources would serve them well
in their own research.

Assignment: Compose an Annotated Bibliography using a Statement of Scope3 paragraphs that contain
the argument, the reason for the research, and the direction of the researchalong with 5 sources found in
the JTHS databases as they relate to a topic developed from ideas generated from Divergent.
The idea for your Annotated Bibliography should come from a topic that interested you in the book. You will
develop that idea into an argument and make a thesis out of it. I will judge the effectiveness of the argument. If the
risk-taking behavior of the Dauntless faction interested you, then theres a way to write about that for this
Annotated Bib. A thesis might be, Although some parents might dismiss a teens interest in risky activities as a
part of growing up, those activities are often indicative of issues such as depression and drug experimentation.
Your sources could go in a number of different ways for a thesis like this, depending on the angle you would like to
pursue. You are not expected to research sources about Divergent for the thesis, so you will need to think about how
your thesis ties into the larger issue you are exploring. So, for my example, I might look up sources that deal with
teen behavior, indicators of depression in teens, and parent relationships and understanding of teens.

Sources: From the jths homepage, go to Schools, Joliet West High School, and then go to Students and
Parents. There you will find the Library Media Center, which hosts our schools databases. You will use E-Library
and SIRS to identify sources to support your argument. You will annotate 5 sources.
Audience: The Audience is two-fold: 1- The primary audience is yourself, in that you want to make annotations
that would help YOU write a paper for English; 2- The secondary audience for any annotated bibliography is all the
people that would read your work to do research about an agreed-upon topic. For MLA, your audience brings
certain expectations: proper headings/headers/title/indents/present-tense verbs and more. With that, your
audience expects a college-level vocabulary for this type of assignment.
Length: Minimum 500 words/Maximum 750 words (most importantly, have a 3-paragraph Statement of Scope.
The Annotated Bibliography length will be of similar length for most students).
Due Date: Friday, September 19, 2014, by the start of class. Late assignments are a grade lower each day. No essay
is accepted after the 6th day.
Format/Medium/Layout: You will use MLA 2009 formatting for this Annotated Bibliography. Your Norton Field
Guide has a section on how this looks. Also, NoodleTools will format the citations for you. The medium is print.
The Statement of Scope goes first, single spaced. You are expected to include 3 sentences after each source to
summarize the significance of the article as it relates to your thesis.
Stance: You should be conveying as objective a stance as possible about the content of the article. The Statement of
Scope should reveal your central argument similar to a typical introduction.

Rubric
Name:_______________________________

Period:_________

Below are the criteria to achieve an A+ thru B in any particular category. The Somewhat Successful Annotated
Bibliography (B- thru C-) has not succeeded in one/some/all of these areas, and the Unsuccessful essay (D thru F) has
failed in one/some/all of these areas.
Notice there is no column for grammar and mechanics specifically. This will be included in the Audience section
because part of successfully meeting your audiences expectations is using language appropriate for your level of
education and theirs.
Purpose (20):
Successful (A+ thru B):
The purpose of this assignment is to compose an Annotated Bibliography using MLA 2009 format that
includes a statement of scope along with 5 sources found within JTHS databases. The Annotations
should be three sentences long using present tense verbs, capturing the importance of the source to
your thesis.
The sources for this Annotated Bibliography should represent a breadth of sources that convey your
extensive research.
Genre (20):
Includes sources that consider Appropriateness (reading level/relevance), Credibility (reputable
source/author), Balance (little bias) and Timeliness (recent/reflects current thinking) as important
factors for inclusion in the Annotated Bibliography.
Design/Layout (20):
Successful (A+ thru B):
Uses MLA 2009 formatting (this includes citations/spacing/headings/headers/etc.)
Aligns annotations appropriately for each entry
Audience (20):
Successful (A+ thru B):
Uses vocabulary appropriate for a college audience
Assumes a level of intelligence and sophistication for the audience
Stance(20):
Successful (A+ thru B):
Uses the annotations to offer an objective point of view about each sources content
Includes quality sources that would benefit you as well as someone using this information for further
research.
Includes Statement of Scope that identifies the angle for research (the argument). All 3 paragraphs
should meet the expectations of intro, defining the argument, and explaining the general perspective of
the sources.