Introduction
You will be preparing an annotated bibliography which will provide you with content to use in upcoming assignments, a beginning set of resources for your final project, and an opportunity to practice summary and evaluation skills, as well as college-level writing skills. In preparation for this assignment, we will be discussing research strategies, MLA requirements, and the why bother of annotated bibliography preparation.
Read the chapter assignment and read or view the lectures before participating in the discussions. Show in your posts that you understand the material.In addition, use the research techniques discussed in Week 2.
3a MLA Style Requirements
Given that ALL documents prepared for this class, as well as all source citations, MUST be in MLA format, it's a good idea if we not only discuss what MLA format is all about but also how to accomplish it. In addition, we'll be discussing citation generators, their benefits and pitfalls, and how to use them most effectively.
We will also delve into the question of why you are being asked to do an annotated bibliography before you've even been assigned to write an essay.
3b Annotated Bibliography
In Week 1 you were asked to select a subject from those listed on the project page. This week you will be gathering sources, summarizing their messages, and evaluating whether they will be useful to your final project in this class. This is also an excellent forum in which to ask questions about the 3b Annotated Bibliography due this week.
There are a number of requirements and restrictions for this assignment:
- The document will be prepared in MLA format.
- The document will contain your subject choice (from list on Project page).
- The subject cannot be related to marijuana in any way.
- The subject cannot be faith-based or highly emotional.
- The subject does not have to be the one selected in Week 1.
- No change to the subject can be made after the annotated bibliography is submitted.
- The document will contain a potential debate question (about the subject).
- The bibliography will contain at least 5 sources.
- All but 1 source will be located using campus-provided subscription databases.
- 1 source will be a published visual.
- None of the sources will be a Wikipedia article.
- None of the sources will be from a sacred text.
- All sources will be properly identified in MLA citation format.
- All 5 of the sources will have annotations.
- Annotations will provide a brief summary and a brief explanation of the usefulness of the source.
- Each annotation should be one well-developed paragraph or more.
- There will be no grammar, punctuation, word choice or spelling errors in the document.
Submission
- Submit one copy of the annotated bibliography as an attachment in the Wk 3 3b discussion thread.
- Submit one copy of the annotated bibliography as an attachment in the Wk 3 3b assignment drop.
- You only need to submit the files as indicated. You don't need to make additional posts in the 3b thread; however, once again, it would be a good idea to read the posts of those who are working on a similar subject. Ask questions of one another if you like. Observe the differences in preparation styles. All of this can help you to improve your own academic writing.
Examples
- These examples give you a clear picture of what I'm asking you to do. They are all set up in proper MLA format, including the citations. Notice that the format on the web example below is somewhat different than the word processing files. This is because it's much more difficult to do things like double spacing and hanging indents on a web page (just as it is in our discussion forums).
- Just below you will find a 3b example as part of this web page.
- Rich text format file of the same example. Right click and save the file to your computer to open with a word processing application.
- Rich text format file of a longer example. This one has a more extensive list of sources, some of which are not annotated. Again, right click and save the file to your computer to open with your word processing application.
3b Example:
Student Name
Course + Task ID (example: ENGL3 3b)
Date (example: 15 March 2011)
Subject: Federal marijuana policies
Debate question: Should marijuana be legalized and regulated for recreational use?
Annotated Bibliography
Berger, Noah. “Cannabis Conventions.” Time Photos. 11 Nov. 2010. Web. 31 Aug. 2011. <http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1984302_2129693,00.html>
The image above accompanies an article about marijuana use in America. The selection of this photo perpetuates the stereotype of marijuana users as being somewhat less than responsible, young, and on the fringe of society.
Cooper, Mary H. "War on Drugs." CQ Researcher 3.11 (1993): 241-264. CQ Researcher. Web. 20 Oct. 2010. <http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre1993031900>.
This report gives an overview of thinking about the War on Drugs and how Reagan “launched an all-out effort to rid the country of illegal substances, chiefly cocaine, heroin and marijuana.” Of course, Nixon began the “War on Drugs,” but it was Reagan’s emphasis and funding that led to the draconian measures that swept the nation and resulted in such devastating social and economic effects... and did nothing to diminish the use of drugs by Americans. This is important information background information, but I would need more current data about the costs associated with the “War on Drugs”.
Granlund, Dave. "More Senior Citizens Smoking Pot." PoliticalCartoons.com. 23 Feb. 2010. Web. 31 Aug. 2011. <http://media.caglecartoons.com/media/cartoons/95/2010/02/23/75066_600.jpg>
The image above contradicts the hop head youth image in the Berger article. There's a double meaning in the use of "joints". One might ask whether seniors are taking up the drug because it is more socially accepted now, or whether it's because they used it when young and are returning to its use as their bodies are hurting more. Note to self: Look up statistics on the self-limiting of drug use. Seem to recall something about most youth cutting way down on or giving up drugs during their adult years.
Henry, Kimberly L., Terence P. Thornberry, and David H. Huizinga. "A discrete-time survival analysis of the relationship between truancy and the onset of marijuana use." Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs 70.1 (2009): 5+. Expanded Academic ASAP. Web. 20 Oct. 2010. Gale Document Number:A192590190
This study is relevant to the argument that marijuana is a gateway drug. The result of this study shows that “truancy was a significant predictor of the initiation of marijuana use...” That makes me wonder about cause/effect questions. For instance, maybe the ease of access to marijuana has more to do with it being a drug of choice early on rather than functioning as a gateway to harder drugs. Maybe the progression would happen regardless of which drug was chosen first, just because the youth had risk factors that are common to both truancy and drug use.
Norton, Aaron. "A hidden effect of marijuana use: findings on sleep give clinicians an opportunity to discuss marijuana's harms." Addiction Professional 6.4 (2008): 37+. Expanded Academic ASAP. Web. 20 Oct. 2010. Gale Document Number:A181820808
This article brings up another of the documented health hazards of marijuana use. It’s important to include several of these as one must weigh the obvious costs against the potential benefits. In this case, the cost is in sleep disruption. The bottom line of the article: “It’s a simple equation and it's not hard to get it out to clients: Marijuana decreases sleep quality, which in turn affects overall quality of life by contributing to memory impairment, unpleasant moods, immune system impairment, and a host of other significant deficits.” Maybe there should be a section just on the proven health costs because there is so much misinformation that claims marijuana is essentially harmless.
Rowe, James. "Dealing with Dope: drugs research officer James Rowe diagnoses a case of `moral panic' in press reactions to marijuana law reform. (Essay)." Meanjin 61.2 (2002): 91+. Expanded Academic ASAP. Web. 20 Oct. 2010. Gale Document Number:A87509116
This article brings up a new term for me: “moral panic.” Rowe states, “Stanley Cohen coined the term ‘moral panic’ thirty years ago. It describes how ‘a condition, episode, person or group of persons’ comes to be ‘defined as a threat to societal values and interests.’” A couple of the examples are downright funny, especially those that come from the supposed liberals: “Liberal Ken Smith warned that marijuana ‘will shrink your testicles’ and stated that ‘it has been proven that smoking cannabis can cause schizophrenia in people who have never suffered from it before.’” Even though the claims are not valid, there are citations for each example, so these could be used to lighten the essay a bit.
Starobin, Paul. "California Goes To Pot." National Journal (2010). Expanded Academic ASAP. Web. 20 Oct. 2010. Gale Document Number:A229907923
Starobin notes, “Not since antebellum times have so many states sought, in effect, to nullify the federal law of the land. In this instance, the seat of rebellion is not the South but the West, with its frontier, ‘don't tread on me’ mind-set and its own history of resentment toward Washington.” This will be a useful article to bring in the pragmatic stance that there are some laws which simply should no longer be laws, or at least they should not carry the same draconian punishments they have in the past. It also brings up the difference between federal and state laws.
