LIBS 1 Final Project consists of four parts: 1) a Research Proposal, 2) an Annotated Bibliography, 3) a Self-Reflection, and 4) a Presentation Outline. The main component is the Annotated Bibliography (see details below). Remember, the Final Project is worth 40% of your grade (400 pts).
Intro (3-5 sentences)
What is your topic and why did you choose it?
How is it personally significant to you?
Research Contribution (3-5 sentences)
Which community/communities are affected by this topic?
What new information will your research contribute to the topic conversation?
You will complete an Annotated Bibliography on a research topic of your choice. The Annotated Bibliography is to include several types of sources—both popular and academic as well as primary and secondary.
A total of eight (8) sources is required, see source list below:
(1) popular source—article from a library database (newspaper or magazine)
(1) academic source—article from a library database (journal)
(1) primary source—book/ebook, website or online archive (ex: https://calisphere.org/)
(1) secondary source—book/ebook or article (newspaper, magazine or journal)
(1) online video—online video from a library database (ex: Films on Demand) or youtube
(1) newspaper article—article from the web or library database (ex: Newspaper Source)
(1) reference source—an encyclopedia entry from a library database (ex: Gale Ebooks)
(1) source of your choice—anything you’d like to include!
TOTAL = (8) sources
Extra Credit: include two (2) additional academic sources (10 pts/each)
WHAT is an annotation?
An annotation is a summary and evaluation of a source identified in the Research Process. For the Final Project, each annotation will include the following three parts:
Summary: What is the point of this book or article? What topics are covered? If someone asked what this article/book is about, what would you say? (2-3 sentences)
Assessment: After summarizing a source, it may be helpful to evaluate it. Is it a useful source? How does it compare with other sources in your bibliography? Is the information reliable? Is this source biased or objective? (2-3 sentences)
Reflection: Once you've summarized and assessed a source, you need to ask how it fits into your research. Was this source helpful to you? How does it help you shape your argument? How can you use this source in your research project? Has it changed how you think about your topic?
Example:
MLA Style Annotation
Lamott, Anne. Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. New York: Anchor Books, 1995. Print.
Lamott's book offers honest advice on the nature of a writing life, complete with its insecurities and failures. Taking a humorous approach to the realities of being a writer, the chapters in Lamott's book are wry and anecdotal and offer advice on everything from plot development to jealousy, from perfectionism to struggling with one's own internal critic. In the process, Lamott includes writing exercises designed to be both productive and fun.
The Research Presentation is an opportunity to showcase your research findings with your classmates. After having conducted research on your topic for nine weeks, you have a level of knowledge and expertise that no one else does, including myself; in other words, you are the expert when it comes to your topic. Though we will not be having actual presentations since we are now online, you will still submit a presentation outline. You may use word processing or power point to create your outline.
You presentation outline should include the following components:
a. Introduce your research topic to the class.
b. Discuss how you arrived to this specific topic and why it’s significant to you?
c. Share two (2) sources you found most useful when researching your topic. These sources are of your own choosing, they can both be popular, both be academic, or one of each. You decide!
For each source:
i. Clearly state the title of each source
ii. Describe how you accessed each source
iii. Discuss how each source is relevant to your research topic
d. Share a piece of information (fact, definition, statistic, etc.) that you found enlightening in researching your topic—something new that you didn’t know before.
Upon completion of your Annotated Bibliography, you will reflect on your experience researching your topic. Discuss the research process from (think: steps 1-7) by answering the following questions: