Purpose/Audience: The goal of this assignment is to develop effective research processes (Course goal #2) and to become familiar with the WVU Libraries system and develop processes for effective library research. The primary purpose of an Annotated Bibliography is to inform. The audience for an Annotated Bibliography is academic: consider your audience a group of scholarly people interested in learning more about your topic, such as students, with a casual familiarity with the subject.
The term “pop culture” refers to the cultural ideas, attitudes, and values popular in a society that are transmitted through and reflected in various forms/types of mass media, such as books, movies, music, television, video games, sports, fashion, food, technological trends, etc.
Conventions
The paper must follow MLA format (12 point, Times New Roman font, one inch margins, double spaced, with the following header: your name, my name, the course, and the due date) and in the citations.
The rules or genre conventions of an Annotated Bibliography are as follows:
- Title the Paper Annotated Bibliography: Your Topic
- List of sources must be alphabetized.
- Source citations must be cited accurately per MLA 8 citation rules.
- Bold each citation to distinguish it from your annotation paragraph. Do not add any extra spaces between the citation and the annotation paragraph, or between the annotation and the next citation; keep the document double spaced throughout.
- Do not indent annotation paragraphs!
- One important MLA rule and genre convention is to refer to the source in the summary using the present tense. For example, saying “the author of this book wrote about childhood obesity” does not follow this rule and uses the past tense. The correct phrasing is “the author…writes about childhood obesity.”
Source Requirements
Eight to ten sources are required on your Annotated Bibliography. It must contain:
- One dictionary source: choose a key word in your topic and define using an online dictionary: dictionary.com, oed.com (Oxford English Dictionary), merriam-webster.com
- One reference entry about your topic from an online encyclopedia https://www.ufrgs.br/blogdabc/reference-websites-for-college-students/
- At least two articles from periodicals (magazines or newspapers). One article must be obtained via one of the WVU Library databases.
- At least one scholarly journal article obtained via one of the WVU Library databases (Ebscohost, JSTOR, Points of View, CQ Researcher, etc.)
- One book; it can be obtained and accessed online via the WVU main search tool ‘Summon’ or elsewhere online.
- One actual pop culture text relevant to your topic, ie a book, movie, television show, etc.
https://www.asindexing.org/reference-shelf/online-reference-sources/
The remaining sources may be types of your choice (periodical articles, books, documentaries, online news articles, etc), but any sources obtained via an open internet search online must be from reliable online publications.
Annotations
The annotation paragraph must summarize and connect the source to the main topic in 100-150 words. The summary paragraph must be in your own words. In the first sentence of the annotation summary, make sure to clearly set up the summary information as coming from the source by referring to the author, title, or source type. For instance, you could begin with a phrase like “This book focuses on…” or “According to this scholarly journal article.”
When summarizing your text in the annotation paragraph, do not simply rephrase the source information in the order the text presents it. Instead, think about the following questions: What are the main ideas or arguments? What is the overall purpose and point of this book or article? What topics are covered? If someone asked what this article/book is about, what would you say?
Here’s an example of what your citation and annotation should look like:
Walser, Robert. “Metallurgies: Genre, History, and the Construction of Heavy metal.” Running with the Devil: Power, Gender, and Madness in Heavy Metal Music. Middletown, Wesley University Press, 2013, pp. 22-43. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/wvu/reader.ac… Accessed 28 August 2017.
Robert Walser, musicologist and critic, discusses the origin and meaning behind the music phenomenon Heavy Metal in chapter one of his book Running with the Devil. The term heavy metal is far older than those in society think, dating back to the late 19th Century with the term being given to those who had power and sway within the world. Power and sway would continue to be major ideas during the formation of heavy metal music, with many bands employing power not only in lyrics, but in the simple creation of their band names. And this powerful feeling extends outward, not only to the fans of the music, but also to those on the “outside” who create the false idea that this music is simply angry noise. Walser tears this notion down by peeling back the layers of culture behind metal music itself and ultimately gives a detailed, tasteful look at the genre’s history and how it came to be.
Assessment Criteria
The assignment requirements for the Paper #1 are as follows:
- 8-10 quality, reliable, trustworthy sources relevant to your chosen topic
- Includes all source types outlined in the above section Source Requirements
- Annotation paragraphs completely and thoughtfully summarize the source in your own words in 100-150 words
- All citations correctly formatted per MLA 8 style rules (see the Easy Writer)
- Adheres to all genre conventions listed above
- Demonstrates awareness of an academic audience by maintaining a formal tone with elevated, sophisticated language with grammatically correct sentences
- -Professionalism/Editing—at the final for now stage, the essay should have limited errors in spelling, grammar, punctuation and demonstrate effective use of academic English
- Racism/sexism in pop culture
- Representations of race/gender/class
- The influence of a specific pop culture celeb or character (Kim Kardashian, Beyonce)
- The impact of a specific piece of pop culture (Star Wars, Harry Potter, The Hunger Games)
- Pop culture influencing social change
- Current or past pop culture trends (general pop culture trends or trends in specific types of pop culture, ie music trends, fashion trends, food trends etc.)
- Celebrity worship
- The value of reality TV
- Portrayals of mental illness
- Representations of disability
- Religion and pop culture
Rubric
A/superior range meets all the above criteria and exceeds many
B/strong range meets all assignment requirements
C/satisfactory range does not meet some of the requirements
D/weak does not meet many of the criteria
I will attach samples to know what I mean specifically, make sure to use at least 8 sources from the website above, and please read everything above carefully.
Thank you.