HP275 – Honors Internships

Smithsonian, Library of Congress, & Holocaust Museum

Annotated Bibliography Description/Requirements

Spring 2009

WHAT IS AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY?

An annotated bibliography is a list of citations to books, articles, and documents. Each citation on the bibliography is followed by a short (approximately 150 words) paragraph, called an “annotation”, which is descriptive and evaluative in nature, and which summarizes the important findings and conclusions of each book/article/document.

WHY CREATE AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY?

The purposes of an annotation are to inform the reader (your instructor in this case) of the relevance, accuracy, and quality of the sources cited, and to be of help to you in the future when you want to research or work on a similar project. It is important for you to keep track your readings – both class-related and those assigned to you by your mentor at the museum or library – and ensure the volume and quality of readings this semester are commensurate with honors work.

EXAMPLE OF ANNOTATED CITATIONS:

Crawford, M. (1986, November 21). United States floats proposal to help prevent global ozone depletion. Science, 234, 927-930.

Crawford reports on the current findings concerning ozone depletion as well as the U.S. proposal for a plan of action which could eventually solve this problem in the future. The deterioration of the ozone is still continuously spreading at a noticeable rate. In just six years (from 1978 to 1984), the average rate of depletion in the ozone surged from 0.1% to 0.5%. With only this small increase, the people born before 1985 are projected to develop "an additional one million melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers" which will result in 20,000 deaths (928). For future generations, the estimated statistics are even higher; the people born between 1985 and 2029 will receive 8.3 million more "skin cancer cases," resulting in 167,000 deaths (928). The only sensible solution to the ozone problem is the immediate elimination of hazardous CFCs from the entire planet. Knowing the usefulness of CFC compounds, the United States has launched an aggressive research campaign to find useful and viable substitutes for CFCs by the year 2005.

Waite, L. J., Goldschneider, F. K., & Witsberger, C. (1986). Nonfamily living and

the erosion of traditional family orientations among young adults. American Sociological Review, 51, 541-554.

The authors, researchers at the Rand Corporation and Brown University, use data from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Young Women and Young Men to test their hypothesis that nonfamily living by young adults alters their attitudes, values, plans, and expectations, moving them away from their belief in traditional sex roles. They find their hypothesis strongly supported in young females, while the effects were fewer in studies of young males. Increasing the time away from parents before marrying increased individualism, self-sufficiency, and changes in attitudes about families. In contrast, an earlier study by Williams cited below shows no significant gender differences in sex role attitudes as a result of nonfamily living.

EDUCATIONAL WEBSITES TO ASSIST YOU WITH THIS ASSIGNMENT:

· Cornell University Library: http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/research/skill28.htm

· Central Michigan University Department of English: http://ocls.cmich.edu/help/annotatedbib.htm

· Purdue University (Writing Lab & OWL): http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/614/01/

DUE DATE:

May 15, 2009 (during our final class meeting)

ASSIGNMENT GOAL:

The goal of this assignment is to ensure that you are making an academic connection to the institutional unit in which you are working (at the SI, LOC, or USHMM).

ASSIGNMENT REQUIREMENTS:

· Choose a topic of interest that is based upon the project and/or institution in which you are working. Write a one (1) paragraph proposal detailing your research focus for this bibliography (i.e.) to research children and the Holocaust) which will precede the bibliography and explain your intent.

· Your citation list should include:

o ALL of the articles, books, documents that you are assigned to read by your library/museum mentor, and;

o Five (5) readings on the topic of your choice (feel free to ask your mentor for help identifying appropriate reading materials).

· Citations should be done in APA style [See MC’s library hand-outs for assistance: http://www.montgomerycollege.edu/library/students.html]

· Annotations should be between 100 and 150 words each.

· One hard copy must be submitted to me along with an electronic copy, via email.

· Assignment should include cover page containing: your name, course name, section number, assignment name

· Assignment should be: computer-generated (not hand-written), double-spaced, Times New Roman font, 12 point, with 1” margins on top, bottom, and sides.