Geography

Assignment 1: The Annotated Bibliography – Due Week 3

First, choose a food item, cuisine, invention, or idea that interests you. Make sure your topic has a super clear region of origin! Some topics will have more information available about them than others, so it’s worth doing some investigation before you settle on one. **Make sure to read the “Hints and clarifications” post in Q&A Discussion Forum for a general context of this 3-part Assignment series.

You will complete this project in 3 separate assignments: an annotated bibliography, an outline, and your final presentation. For Assignment 1, you will complete your annotated bibliography. Completing the project in separate assignments allows you to work your way up to the final presentation, and provides opportunity for feedback along the way.

Assignment Objective: Assess sources for your research for your final presentation (for credibility, reliability, and relevance) and list references in proper APA format through the creation of an annotated bibliography.

Assignment Instructions: An annotation is a summary and evaluation, and your annotated bibliography will include a summary and evaluation of some of the sources (or references) you will use for your presentation.

To prepare for this assignment, I recommend that you do the following:

Read these directions carefully.
Review the sample annotated bibliography provided to you below.
Read the grading criteria below. The grading criteria is a detailed evaluation that I will use to assess your performance. It also will help you understand what is expected you as you prepare your assignment.
Contact me with any questions!

The reason the annotated bibliography is included as part of the research project is that writing an annotated bibliography provides excellent preparation for the final presentation. One of the issues regarding any type of research is the credibility of the sources used, particularly those obtained from various websites. By forcing you to evaluate your potential sources carefully, the annotated bibliography helps you determine if the sources you chose are credible and relevant to your topic. It will also help you understand the topic better, which will help you develop your presentation.

For this project, you will assess three sources to include:

1) a complete citation for each source,

2) a summary of each source, and

3) an evaluation of each source.

Three sources are required for this assignment (i.e., you are to write an annotation for each source). However, you must use five or more sources for Assignments 2 and 3.

Use the TEMPLATE below to summarize and evaluate each of your three sources.

Citation:

Written in APA reference list format. For more help with formatting, see APA handout.

Summary:

What is the purpose of the source, review article, original research? What topics are covered? This section is generally 3-5 sentences that summarize the author’s main point. For more help, see this link on paraphrasing sources.

Evaluation:

After summarizing the article (or research paper or book), it is necessary to evaluate it and state where you found it – its source (e.g., journal, website, etc.). Briefly answer the following questions in 3-5 sentences:

What is the format or type of source (e.g., peer-reviewed journal paper, website, book)? How reliable is the information in the article, and how credible is the source (e.g., website’s sponsoring organization, journal or book publisher) and the author(s)?

For more help, see this handout on evaluating resources.

Additional Resources:

Please see the resources below at The Owl at Purdue site for more information on how to write an annotated bibliography as well as other pages on the site to assist you with the other parts of the research paper:

Annotated Bibliographies

Annotated Bibliography Example

Annotated Bibliography Samples

Evaluation: Please review the Annotated Bibliography Grading Criteria below that describes how your annotated bibliography will be graded.

Software: As an APUS student, you have free access to Microsoft Office for both Windows and MacOS, which includes Microsoft Word and PowerPoint.

Submission Instructions:

You must submit your Annotated Bibliography as a “Microsoft Word” document using the template provided (rather than a Word Pad, Works, etc. document) AND title your file name as FirstInitialLastname_Assign1.doc.

Browse for the file you want to submit by clicking Add a File. You can attach files from your local computer or storage device, a personal locker, a group locker, or Brightspace ePortfolio. Enter any comments you want to submit with the file. Click Submit.