Deliberative Argument Project: The Annotated Bibliography

DELIBERATIVE ARGUMENT PROJECT: THE ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
OVERVIEW
Write a 10 source annotated bibliography to help you answer your research question. At least 3 of the
sources should be scholarly peer-reviewed articles. Keep in mind that the databases contain a wide
variety of genres, so not everything in the database is a peer-reviewed article. Other genres of sources
you may use in the annotated bibliography include government documents, books, news articles, etc.
The title of your annotated bibliography is your research question. Each annotation should include an
APA works cited entry and a one paragraph annotation that summarizes the source and evaluates its
usefulness for your project. What is the main point of the source? How do you know it is credible? How
do you plan to use it in your deliberative argument paper?
RHETORICAL SITUATION
You and I are the audience. Therefore, your exigence is twofold: 1) demonstrate to me that you have
done thorough research on this topic and are capable of evaluating sources for their credibility and
usefulness and 2) write annotation paragraphs will help you remember the content of your sources and
how you plan to use those sources in your paper. Your subject is determined by your research question
and the sources that you find.
WRITING PROCESS
You’ve already begun the invention stage by selecting your research question and thinking about its
significance while writing your proposal. The annotated bibliography is part invention and part
planning because your sources will help you come up with ideas and your annotation paragraphs will
help you plan how to use that information.
SAMPLE
Casement, R. (2002). Breaking the Silence: The Stories of Gay and Lesbian People in Children’s Literature.
The New Advocate, 15(3), 205-214. Retrieved from ERIC (Accession No. EJ648662).
Dr. Casement is a professor of Education at the University of Michigan. The New Advocate is a periodical
about teaching literature to children, so its audience is professors of education as well as people who
teach children. Casement argues that teachers and librarians self-censor their purchases due to fear of
community response. She gives examples of community organizations that have fought to censor books
about gay and lesbian family members in the past (209). Casement is unhappy with this situation because
she believes books about same-sex parents can benefit all students. Casement’s article is well-researched
and logically argued, so it would be useful for anyone researching the topic of children’s books with gay
characters. I agree with Casement that “literature contributes to our understandings of ourselves and
clearly demonstrates what is valued in classrooms, schools, and communities” and will use her article to
argue that this is why these picture books are valuable for all children (not just for children being raised
by same-sex parents) (207). I will also use Casement’s bibliography to find examples of children’s books
with same-sex parents and read them.