The Annotated Bibliography is part of your final project

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The Annotated Bibliography is part of your final project.  Students are to provide annotations for five primary sources and five secondary sources that will then be used in the final project.  Sources should be directly related to the final project’s topic.  Annotations should be a paragraph (about 100 words).

For secondary sources, students should use high quality scholarly sources, especially scholarly monographs or articles published in peer-reviewed academic journals. Students should avoid using the textbook, encyclopedia articles, or anonymously authored websites.

For primary sources, students should be looking for documents which were originally written during the time period they are trying to study. While architectural or archaeological remains certainly do qualify as primary sources which can be used by scholars to reconstruct the past, they are problematic for an assignment like this. Written documents from the past should be your focus!

Your Annotated Bibliography is due before the conclusion of Module 5. When you have completed this assignment, upload your work to Module 5: Annotated Bibliography: Submit Here. 

What is an Annotated Bibliography? 

An annotated bibliography is an organized list of sources (like a reference list). It differs from a straightforward bibliography in that each reference is followed by a paragraph length annotation, about 100 words in length.

What is the purpose of an Annotated Bibliography? 

• Provide a literature review on a particular subject
• Help to formulate a thesis on a subject
• Demonstrate the research you have performed on a particular subject
• Provide examples of major sources of information available on a topic
• Describe items that other researchers may find of interest on a topic

What am I required to include in my Annotated Bibliography?

For Primary Sources:

• Bibliographic information according to Chicago style.
• The name and background of the author, if known.
• The date the document was originally written, if known.
• The author’s purpose in writing the document and its historical context.
• Any bias displayed by the author.
• The significance of the document (i.e., why should anybody in the present care?).

For Secondary Sources:

• Bibliographic information according to Chicago style.
• The name and scholarly background of the author (education, publications, university appointments, etc.)
• The author’s main argument (note, this is not the same thing as a simple description of the subject matter-- what is the author trying to say about this subject?).
• The specific types of evidence used to support the author’s main argument (are they primary sources? Scholarly secondary works?)
• How successful/convincing is the author’s argument?

What are some examples of an Annotated Bibliography? 

Here are some helpful resources that include examples of an Annotated Bibliography:

• Purdue University OWL: Annotated Bibliography Examples (Links to an external site.)
• Chicago Style Annotations (Links to an external site.)
• What is an Annotated Bibliography?  (Links to an external site.)
• How to Write an Annotated Bibliography in Turabian/Chicago Style  (Links to an external site.)

Useful websites for finding primary sources online:

• World History Sources (Links to an external site.)
• Perseus Digital Library (Links to an external site.)
• Ancient History Sourcebook (Links to an external site.)
• Medieval History Sourcebook (Links to an external site.)
• Women's History Sourcebook (Links to an external site.)
• Diotima (Links to an external site.) (Women's History Sources)
• The Avalon Project (Links to an external site.)
• World Digital Library (Links to an external site.)

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