Identify a contemporay issue in the field of Law and form a research question based on that issue. Use three primary sources and three scholarly sources.

Project 1 Guidelines S22.docx Download Project 1 Guidelines S22.docx

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

(Minimum of 1,000 typed, polished words)

For Project 1, you will first identify a contemporary topic or issue within your field of study, prospective academic major, or professional community and then form a research question that helps you better understand the topic/issue you have chosen. You will work to better understand the complexity of the issue through research, first writing an Annotated Bibliography that compiles all the research. You might, for example, research elements of the issue that are misunderstood or should be understood in a new way. This topic and research question should guide you throughout your Annotated Bibliography and all of Project 1.

In order to explore your research question, you will engage in a variety of research methods. Research is finding information—and there are many ways to go about finding information. You will discover, however, that some research methods are favored within your academic discourse community. For instance, while the humanities tend to prefer secondary research (consulting scholarly, popular, and professional publications), the sciences tend to prefer primary research (collecting data through interviews, surveys, first-hand observations, and experiments). To that end, it is up to you to identify what research methods are most appropriate for your project.

Some options to consider include:

• • Primary Research
    • Observations
    • Interviews
    • Surveys
    • Data/Text analysis
  • Secondary Research
    • Scholarly
      • Peer-Reviewed Articles
      • Books (Published by an Academic or Scholarly Press)
      • Academic Lectures/Presentations
    • Popular
      • Websites
      • Blog Posts
      • Magazine Articles
      • Newspaper Articles
      • Documentaries

For this assignment, you will summarize and analyze your data by annotating a minimum of six (6) potential sources. Of these…

• • Three (3) of those sources must be scholarly and peer-reviewed (that is, vetted by authorities in the field).
  • The other three (3) are your choice of primary, popular, or additional scholarly sources.

You should properly cite each of the six sources in accordance with the documentation style for your field (refer to the Purdue OWL site (Links to an external site.), or BBG pp.394-432, or tabs 6-8 in AWR for information on the various documentation styles).

For the annotation for each source, you should…

• • Start with the citation (always double check that you’re accurate and format it with a hanging indentation)
  • Write at least 150 words (per source) (remember: the word count for this Annotated Bibliography in total is 1000 words). In the 150 words, you should…
    • summarize the source and its main ideas in a way that makes clear its relevance to your topic and project (this should be the bulk of your annotation; at minimum, 50% of the 150 words should be comprised of summary);
    • offer an evaluation of the source’s credibility (a sentence or so);
    • explain how you would use the source in your essay (a sentence or so);
    • describe how the source relates/does not relate to the other sources (a sentence or so). 

If you find a source that appears to be relevant (as you explain in your annotation for it) but upon drafting your essay consider that it is not as pertinent as others, it’s fine that it’s included in your annotated bibliography. However, you’ll need to replace the source with another that is more appropriate for the final essay.

Documentation Style: Use the documentation style of your field (for in-text citations and the page listing your sources).

Regarding formatting for the Annotated Bibliography, please include…

• • A header with your name, date, and the class name
  • A title containing your research question
  • Page numbers on each page with your last name in front of them
  • Formatting of 12 pt font, Times New Roman, double spacing
  • Hanging indentations for your citations (google if you aren’t sure what this is)