Writing Assignment: The Critical Annotated Bibliography

Writing Assignment will be a critical annotated bibliography of 12 sources.

In this assignment you will write a list of at least 12 references in alphabetical order in APA format. In addition, each reference will be followed by a short analytical summary of 150-200 words.

At the end of the short summary, you will include a sentence or two that critically analyzes the source and that mentions distinctive features about the article and why it may or may not be useful for you in writing a literature review.

Video that briefly describes and outlines this writing assignment.

You may select a topic of your choice. However, when selecting a topic, keep in mind that it should be a topic on which a number of studies or scholarly articles have been published.

Examples of topics students have chosen in the past or that would be workable for this assignment are the following:

•The impact of the Internet on research methods of students and plagiarism in student papers
•The impact of The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act on primary school education
•The impact of mobile devices on cybersecurity

Overall, in considering a topic, you might consider your major, topics that will be covered in future classes you plan to take at UMUC, and your interests.

For example, please examine the following ideas:

• If your major is criminal justice, you might consider researching criminal behavior among homeless individuals, criminal behavior among youth, society's perception of law enforcement, etc.

• If your major is psychology, you might consider researching counseling strategies, consumer behavior in online shopping, decision-making in upper-management positions, etc.

• If your major is history, you might consider researching theories on the Civil War, studies on labor patterns in the United States, an aspect of military history, etc.

• If your major is social science, you might consider researching community responses to health care threats, co-parenting patterns after divorce, etc.

• If your major is graphic communication, you might consider researching different categories of graphic communication technology, trends in graphic communication through the years, etc.

Whatever topic you consider, keep in mind that it should be a topic on which a number of studies or scholarly articles have been published. You will conduct all or most of your research using UMUC's OneSearch function in finding scholarly articles.

This assignment will be an analytical/critical/ annotated bibliography. The difference between the descriptive/informative annotated bibliography and the analytical/critical annotated bibliography is explained.

The following are some links to sample Annotated Bibliographies. Some of them give examples in APA format. You may want to observe these examples and perhaps model your work after them.

- A variety of samples from The University of North Carolina Writing Center, including these specific examples of APA-style annotations.
- Some instruction from Cornell University. The website also provides more information on the process of writing an annotated bibliography.
- Some instruction from East Carolina University.