Points: 125 ~ Due: June 8 by noon
(place in box in Learning Center)
The Assignment:
- Prepare an annotated bibliography of 21 professional sources, plus three rejects, on your topic (Again, no more and no less).
- Write an introductory essay that reflects upon professional researching.
Specifics for the essay: You've now had ten weeks experience working with an advanced research challenge. Discuss any major insights you've gained about your topic. (Has your understanding of the topic deepened? How?) Also, discuss the psychological, intellectual and ethical requirements of professional research. You don't necessarily have to have mastered these demands of the work yet, but do share your insights as to what those rigors are. Humor welcome as long as the content is of high quality. Please notice on the grading form that the essay is worth 25 points, so spend some time with this part of the assignment.
Specifics for the annotations: You must have
- five experts (a good mix of the four types)
- two non-profit associations
- two for-profit businesses
- two government agencies
- two government documents
- two statistical sources
- two world wide sites
- one online list, blog or chat group
- one picture resource
- two other media and formats
- three rejected sources
Study the category criteria carefully. You may use any search strategies you like. Be sure to adapt your citation formats to the type of source. (For example, experts require addresses and phone numbers in the citation.) The links above right have most of the details you need to complete these annotations. Again, study the grading form for standards. Notice I'll be looking at the overall mix, as well as individual items.
For the rejects, your annotation needs to tell what was wrong with these sources, why they didn't fit your criteria.
Don't duplicate sources, for example by putting an organization in experts and again in associations or web sites. These need to be 21 distinct sources.
Links You'll Need
Useful Readings
Locating, Evaluating and Using Statistics