Project 2: Research & Dialogue

Annotated Bibliography (6 sources)

In Class Dialogue
500-800 word Essay

Overview:​ In Writing Project 2, you will implement a multipart research plan that will be tied to
Writing Project 3. In order to do this, you will identify an issue that you care about. You will record
your findings using annotated bibliographies (a common academic research format). You might
think of these bibliographies as your “researcher’s journal.” This research will culminate in an
in-class Dialogue and "Investigative Essay." In your investigative essay you will explore how your
researched sources interrelate to multiple perspectives on an issue. In summary, your project will
focus on research around an issue significant to you while maintaining a neutral perspective.

Part 1: An Annotated Bibliography (6 entries)

To ​annotate ​means to add notes to a source that provide explanation, critique, evaluation or
commentary. A ​bibliography ​is a list of references (think "trail of crumbs") that interested readers
can follow when conducting research or exploring another writer's research path. Taken together,
an ​annotated bibliography ​is a list of citations to books, articles, and documents in which each
citation is followed by a brief descriptive and evaluative paragraph (the annotation) that informs
readers of the relevance, accuracy, and quality of the sources cited. Possible sources range from
books and journals to interviews and Ted Talks. By creating and maintaining a list of annotations, a
researcher is able to keep track of the sources she reviews and her critical thoughts about that
source. In lay terms, one might call this collection of annotations a “Researcher’s Journal.”

Part 1 Requirements: For this writing assignment you will research a contemporary issue by
exploring how it is represented, discussed, and critiqued in popular and academic sources. Your
annotated bibliographies must include at least 6 sources selected from the categories below:

● At least 3 scholarly sources (i.e. books by notable authors/presses; peer-reviewed journal

articles)
● At least 2 popular sources (newspaper and/or magazine articles; credible websites [.gov,
.org, etc])
● At least 1 primary source (i.e. an interview, a survey, an observation)

For a sample annotation, click ​here​. As you annotate each source, include the following
requirements:

1. Citation: An APA format citation for the source.

2. Summary (~100 words): What is the source about? What is the situation addressed in the
source? What is the author's position/thesis?
3. Evaluation (~100 words): To what extent does the author/source succeed at persuading
you that the position/thesis is reasonable, credible, and rhetorically sound? How effective is
the source at extending your understanding of other perspectives and your issue as a
whole?
 4. Excerpts (2-3 quotations): What quote or quotes do you think best capture the argument
from this source? What sentence(s) could you draw into your own essay that might compel
readers to understand your topic and corresponding perspectives?

Part 2: ​Conversation Cafe (In Class)

Based on David Bohm’s, ​On Dialogue​ and our dialogue exercise in class.

Part 3: Investigative Essay (500-800 words)

The third part of Writing Project 2 is an investigative research essay where you will present
different perspectives on the issue you researched. The key here is to adopt a neutral, informational
voice rather than advocate. You are working to highlight different viewpoints on an issue and
present them clearly and accurately.

Along with highlighting different viewpoints, or stakeholders, you want to show how your
researched sources relate. By mapping these relationships, you will create an overview of the topic
and how it is being engaged by others. To prompt your thinking about this portion of the writing
project, you might consider the following questions:

● Who are the stakeholders related to this topic?

● What is the relationship between your sources?
● How does one source complement and support, or contradict and challenge, other sources
you’ve read?
● What kinds of information have you uncovered during this project? What kinds of claims
might you make about that information? And, how might that information function as
supporting evidence for those claims?

The investigative essay should teach your audience what you have learned during your research,
and therefore, should be: 1) written with a balanced approach that avoids taking a particular
position, and 2) informative, rhetorically appealing, and accessible to a targeted audience.

Project Submission:​ Much of your process work for this project will be posted to Canvas and/or
completed in class. Specific details about the process work of WP2 will be posted in Canvas or
discussed in lecture. In the final draft of your project, your annotated bibliography entries will
become the “References” portion of the document, while the Dialogue worksheet, and investigative
essay will be the “essay” portion of the project.

Initial Draft Due: 3/28

Polished Draft Due: 4/5