The assignment is attached below. Annotated Bibliography and Executive Summary. The discourse community is counseling

The assignment is attached below. Annotated Bibliography and Executive Summary. The discourse community is counseling
Practicum in Writing WRIT 200 Major Assignment 3: Annotated Bibliography + Executive Summary Assignment Overview Your previous assignments have exposed you to the expectations and writing conventions of your academic discipline. Now, you are ready to apply what you have learned and join their conversation. An annotated bibliography is a tool to assist other researchers in your field. It lists available research on a topic in a convenient and easy-to-use format. A synthesis matrix will help you place the texts you research for your annotated bibliography “in conversation” with each other to find supporting ideas for your executive summary. An executive summary takes the same information and condenses it into a very brief report. It is intended to be read by decision-makers (hence the name). Its purpose is to make a policy recommendation or solve a problem. Your goal here is not to simply inform your readers or display your knowledge, but to urge them to take a specific course of action. It should be formatted to look like a professional memo. Rhetorical Situation Audience: Professionals within your discourse community. There’s a good chance that I, your instructor, am not a member of that DC, so don’t write it to me! Purpose: To gather credible, professional resources about a current issue that affects your DC, evaluate and choose the most useful ones, and present them in a format that meets the standards of your discipline. Topic: Choose any current problem, ongoing debate, or controversial question within your academic or professional field (discourse community), which other members of the discipline are currently discussing, and which is also important to you personally. (It’s important to choose something you actually care about because you’re going to be spending a great deal of time reading, thinking, and writing about it.) Next, search for and select at least six sources that you can use to analyze and solve the problem. All your sources should be discourse-community appropriate. In other words, you’re looking for sources that other experts would recognize as professional and reliable. They do not necessarily have to be “scholarly,” but they should not be too “general interest” either. They should be written by and for professionals in your chosen field. (No encyclopedia articles, no textbooks, etc.) Use your rhetorical knowledge of purpose, audience, and context to choose appropriate sources. NOTE: When selecting your sources, use the BEAM method to contextualize them within your overall rhetorical purpose. You don’t want to just pick stuff at random! You should have a clear idea of what question you are trying to answer and how each source serves your purpose. No more than two of your sources should provide background information on your topic; the other four should explore the arguments within your discourse community and examine possible solutions to the problem you have identified. Assignment Details Annotated Bibliography of at least six sources = 4-5 pages Executive Summary = one single-spaced page For each of the sources you choose, include the following in your annotated bibliography: A citation, correctly formatted in APA, MLA, or another established style, depending upon the conventions and expectations of your field. (Although the genre of the bibliography is common to many disciplines, conventions for formatting and presentation vary. Part of your job is to identify and conform to the standards established for your discourse community.) A one-paragraph summary of the source’s contents. This section should be summary only; do not evaluate the source. It should be objective and factual, and entirely in your own words. An analysis of its rhetorical situation, including audience, purpose, and context. Basically, how do you know that this is a DC-specific text? A one-paragraph reflection on how the source fits in with your research purpose and in the rhetorical context of your discourse community. What is this particular article bringing to the debate that made you want to use it? How does it connect with, add to, or complicate the other sources you’ve chosen? How is it going to be useful to you in preparing your executive summary? Create a Synthesis Matrix (information on page 3) that demonstrates critical thinking of all six texts. After you have completed the Bibliography and Synthesis Matrix, write a one- page (single-spaced) Executive Summary of your findings. Other Requirements Your Annotated Bibliography + Executive Summary should be formatted based on the conventions of your discourse community. The Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines synthesis as “the composition or combination of parts or elements so as to form a whole.” In the Synthesis Matrix, you will place your six sources into conversation with your research question and with one another. A Synthesis Matrix template is available on Sakai. So is an online Synthesis Matrix tutorial. You will find that once you have completed your Synthesis Matrix, your Executive Summary will essentially write itself! The “themes” you discover in the process of creating your synthesis matrix should serve as supportive evidence when you create your argumentative thesis for the executive summary.