Q Step 2: Annotated Bibliography Memo Overview Step 2 of the Senior Capstone Project is an annotated bibliography, which is a list of sources used in writing a paper, supplemented with descriptive information about the sources. The purpose of an annotation is to inform your reader about the usefulness and credibility of a source you consulted in the development of your project. It also shows that you know the traditions, the experts, and the major players in the subject matter of your paper. No matter what type of Senior Capstone Project you choose or what your topic is, people have been talking and writing about it, probably for years, and your job is to figure out how to join—and make a worthwhile contribution to—that conversation. As you do your reading and research for the annotated bibliography, keep the project proposal memo you created in step 1 nearby. It is a reminder of your central research questions or areas of investigation. Remember not to stray from your approved project area, because your professor may ask you to rewrite the proposal to reflect what you now propose to do in your project. Annotated Bibliographies in the Workplace Although your employers may not specifically request an annotated bibliography for your work projects, you should assume that they expect you to be thoroughly knowledgeable about a subject before you try to contribute relevant ideas. You can draw on the same information-gathering strategies you learn in developing an annotated bibliography. If you follow this method, you will know that you have obtained the best information available about the subject. For an overview of the process involved in writing an annotated bibliography, take a look at the following graphics. Fig. 1: Annotated Bibliography Image ALT Text Your Task Now you are ready to begin writing your own annotated bibliography. In general, you need to: • Choose your sources. You will need to locate at least eight sources for your annotated bibliography memo, from at least 3 different source types. No more than two of your sources can be from interviews. No more than three of any other type of source may be counted toward the minimum number of eight references (although you certainly may use more sources). These eight sources must include peer-reviewed scholarly or professional journal articles. The bulk of your research should come from the UMUC library's databases. Your sources must be authoritative and credible primary resources. Therefore, they must include peer-reviewed scholarly or professional journal articles from the UMUC library's databases. To review the characteristics and differences between the primary and secondary sources that must be among your selections. Besides those journal articles and the personal interviews, the sources may include general circulation newspapers, and general circulation and trade magazines, books, manuals, emails, and web sources. Note a newspaper article found on the web is classified as a newspaper article; web sources are those found originally on the web. Never refer to an entire website as a source. Be specific about which information you used on that website. Use the library’s guide to reference formats here or the handouts in our classroom’s Writing Resources. • Review the items. Examine the items and choose those that provide a wide variety of perspectives on your topic. Article abstracts are helpful in this process. • Write the citations and annotations. When writing your annotations, the complete citation should always come first and the annotation follows. Depending on the type of annotated bibliography you are writing, you will want to include: o The purpose of the work o A summary of its content o Information about the author(s) o Its relevance to the topic Beginning the Research Process This section will give you an overview of how you must accomplish the steps to researching your Senior Capstone Project. Your first task will be to get a general sense of • the names of people and organizations involved with your topic • a timeline of significant events related to your topic General or Background Information An excellent resource for getting started on a research project is our discipline is the Encyclopedia of Communication and Information (2002). You can locate the encyclopedia through the UMUC library's Research Guide for COMM 495. • Go to the UMUC library's Research Guide for COMM 495. • Scroll down to “Background Information” and select the link for the Encyclopedia of Communication and Information. • Once you have reached the encyclopedia's website, be sure you select the option to search within "all volumes," and then enter the search term you want to find. The search term can be a person or organization you have found in the research for your project proposal memo, the topic of your project, or the name of a theory you are thinking of using for your project. Use the Encyclopedia of Communication and Information as a source to add to your list of names and organizations, as well as to your timeline. • Another encyclopedia you might use through the UMUC library: 21st Century Communication: A Reference Handbook (2009). This source offers detailed histories of how ideas have developed and been applied, and the bibliography at the end of each article will lead you to additional sources of good information. • A third encyclopedia that you might use from the library’s holdings is the Encyclopedia of Communication Theory (2009), which explains the communication theories that you may need in your research. Timeline To indicate your mastery of your subject, you should prepare a timeline about it. Theories and research often emanate from events outside the realm of academia or research organizations. For example, with communication studies, you will want to know when the technologies through which people communicate were invented. You'll also want to know the dates when famous researchers were actively engaged with your topic. Research typically builds on previous work, so you should have a clear notion of who influenced whom. A good annotated bibliography shows that you understand when a particular research topic began to be studied, and why. Continue to refine your timeline throughout the course of your research. Your professor will not necessarily ask you to include a timeline in your annotated bibliography, but he or she will want to see, through your choice of resources and your comments about them, that you understand when, where, and why the texts were produced. Recent Newspaper/Popular Journal/Cable News/Website Sources You might have read about your research topic in People magazine or the New York Times or heard about it through a link you saw on Facebook directing you to a program on National Public Radio. Although these kinds of writing are unacceptable for an annotated bibliography, they often give you the names of researchers, organizations, and recent studies that you can use for your annotated bibliography. When a communication subject makes it into the realm of current media, you can assume that the topic is of at least some current interest and importance, which is good. You will then want to "ground" that current topic in research, studies, and reports that have led to that news story. If you are writing about past events and want to find newspaper stories related to those events, check the UMUC library's Research Guide for Communication Studies: Resources, which has archives of the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Baltimore Sun. Use these sources to put your study into historical context, to add to your timeline, and to find the names of scholars and researchers who wrote about your topics in the past. Remember, however, that newspaper stories—old or new—generally are not authoritative enough to be in your annotated bibliography. Finishing Your Broad Search After you have looked at these encyclopedias and recent or old news stories, revisit your project proposal. If you find that your focus has changed through the research process, be sure to alert your professor. You may need to refine and rewrite your research question. Best Sources for the Annotated Bibliography In this section, you will learn how to select good sources for your annotated bibliography. Databases Communication is such a broad and varied field that good sources of information come from many places. From your preliminary readings, you should have the names of people and organizations who have written about your topic. The most reliable academic places to find additional research and writing on your topic are library databases, such as the Research Databases in the UMUC library. Tip: Need help with doing database searches? Try this library tutorial. Another good source for scholarly articles is the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. This publication's articles are vetted by experts; and the journal itself is published by the International Communication Association, a well-respected communication studies and research organization. JCMC articles are complete and free to everyone. Evaluating Articles and Books When you get a list of articles from a database search, you must find the best articles for your annotated bibliography. Use the following criteria to guide you. In addition, make sure you have narrowed the scope of your project—by time period, kinds of people, locations, and so forth—so you know which information is relevant. Annotated Bibliography Memorandum Format If you need help writing your annotated bibliography, this UMUC library tutorial can help. If your professor does not specify his or her own memorandum format, use this template for your memo: TO: Professor xxxxxxx (your instructor's name) FROM: xxxxxxx (your name) DATE: xxxxxxx (date of submission) SUBJECT: Annotated Bibliography for <Insert Project Option #> , <Insert Draft project’s Title Here > Introduction Give your professor information about your project, its importance and relevance, and the purpose of your project for your particular audience, which you may want to specify again to your instructor. Explain clearly what you have sought to accomplish through your annotated bibliography—that is, the importance, significance, and relevance of your project. The References and Annotations Unless otherwise directed by your professor, put your references in alphabetical order. Use APA citation style to write and format the references. If you need help with writing APA reference list entries, check the UMUC library's Citation Resourceswebpage The annotations are "notes" about each text that will be useful to your project. Think about including some or all of the following information, based on what will be useful to you, to show your professor that you understand your project topic: o a brief summary of the text and its main argument/point o how the text contributes to your project—historical, background, related study, counterexample, issue-related information, and so forth o quotes and data from the text that you might use in your paper o why this information is relevant, professional, and reliable o how this text relates to other texts you are including in your annotated bibliography Analysis of the Bibliography Although some professors may not ask for a conclusion, think about writing one, at least for yourself. Answer these questions: o What gaps do you still have in your knowledge about the subject of your project? o What can you do and NOT do with your project, now that you know about the research and writing related to your topic? Review again the research question and scope of the project you wrote in your proposal memorandum. What changes in scope will you make to your project now? Will you, for example, target the executive speech to a different audience? For the technical report, will you broaden or narrow your focus on the subject of your project? For the magazine article, what do you think your writing will add to this discussion for readers interested in your topic? Final Step Always check your work for errors in grammar, spelling, and mechanics. Such errors do nothing to enhance your reputation as a writer of competent and insightful contributions to your area of study. In the workplace, they would embarrass not only you but your employer. Remember, you are supposed to be producing professional-level work with your Senior Capstone Project. The annotated bibliography is an integral part of the process of writing in the academic and professional worlds. It should give you the grounded base of knowledge you will need to make wise decisions in your writing and research. Simply put, the annotated bibliography gives you the authority to produce a worthwhile contribution to the scholarly and professional discussion of a subject. In the end, it is your creativity and curiosity that will make writing an annotated bibliography a worthwhile step in your Senior Capstone Project.