English 1101 composition and rhetoric

Summary

An annotated bibliography is a research-driven assignment that asks you to locate,

evaluate, and reflect on sources for a research project. While annotated

bibliographies can vary in length, an annotated bibliography typically consists of

citations for each source one is using followed by a paragraph about each source.

This assignment is intended to help you evaluate sources to decide which ones will

be most useful for your comparative analysis.

Situation

For this assignment, you are not writing an essay. You are instead locating

potential sources to write about the topic. Your research paper about this topic will

be Writing Assignment 4—this assignment is an annotated bibliography exploring

sources to help you write your research essay.

 Should unhealthy foods like soft drinks and junk food be taxed to discourage

people from overconsuming them?

 Should college athletes be paid outside of tuition and other college

compensation?

 Should employers make hiring decisions based on criminal background

checks?

 Should juvenile offenders be treated like adults in criminal cases?

 Should the government take measures to control college tuition?

 Should the federal minimum wage be raised?

 Should parents allow their children to have smartphones?

 Should high schools focus more on teaching life skills like taxes, budgeting,

cooking, and so on?

 Should religious organizations be exempt from laws that potentially go

against their doctrine?

 Should the government nationalize industries temporarily to increase

production of vital medical supplies during the COVID-19 crisis?

 Should the government take action to address income inequality?

 If you have another idea for a topic, you are welcome to pitch it to the

instructor for approval outside of class, but the instructor reserves the right

to approve or reject any topic not listed here.

Task

For this assignment, you will need to cite and annotate 5 sources. You will choose

your topic and then locate your sources using the CTC library databases for at least

3 of your 5 sources.

You should cite each source using MLA format. After each citation, you will need

to write an annotation. The annotation should be several sentences long and

include the following:

 A summary of the main idea, argument, and purpose of the source.

 An evaluation of the source that judges its credibility (based on author and

publisher), potential biases, strengths, and weaknesses.

 A reflection on the source that states how the source will help you to

understand the topic and write your comparative analysis.

Your completed annotated bibliography should have 5 total MLA 8 citations and

annotations. Each annotation should be at least 200 words. These should be in

alphabetical order by the first item in each citation (typically author, but sometimes

title for sources with no known author).