Project 2 Reflection

I started my research by using google scholar, and trying to look into the purpose of

punishment. This resulted in a great many court cases being found, so I decided to use a law

database. Through Atkins Library I accessed Westlaw Next, a database of many court cases and

legislature. Looking through the many court cases was very time consuming, as each one can be

quite long. In the end, I settled on two court cases, one statute, a paper from the ASC, and an

article from the APA.

Before my research, I was unaware that government policy leaned towards rehabilitation

before the 1970s. Learning about the policy changes towards punitive measures was very

interesting. I also did not know that there was a set of guidelines for imposing sentences in

general. I had thought that it was mostly based on the crime, and the judge.

This research has reinforced what I had previously believed. This research was spurred

by a discussion about capital punishment. In our society capital punishment is highly

controversial, but for the wrong reasons. People often debate the morality of capital punishment,

however when compared to a life sentence in prison, there is little difference. For both types of

punishment, the goal is to remove them from society and provide retribution for the affected.

And so, the question should not be about whether it is right to sentence someone to capital

punishment, but about what is the purpose of the justice system to begin with.

The most helpful article was the statute establishing guidelines for imposing sentences.

The statute provides a clear picture of the governments stance on sentences. The least useful

article was the court case of Claiborne v. The USA. All it showed was the harshness of the

current system, which was adequately some of the other pieces

 Completing the annotated bibliography started with researching a topic. After doing

research into a chosen topic, five sources were selected for elaboration. After citing the sources

using the MLA format each source was summarized in a paragraph. After summarization, each

source was evaluated on the reliability of the source and the usefulness of the content. The

biggest benefit to knowing this process, is the knowledge of annotated bibliographies

themselves. In the future, it will be important to know the difference between an annotated

bibliography a normal bibliography and a works cited page.

Two of the student learning outcomes that are met by this project are critical reading and

knowledge of conventions. Knowing what an annotated bibliography is and how it differs from a

normal bibliography or a works cited is an important information on writing convention, both for

any works I will write in the future, and for works I will need to read. This knowledge will also

contribute to helping analyze a piece and its sources. Annotated bibliographies will contain

important information on where the author got their information, as well as some of their

thoughts on the sources.