English 808: Technology & Literacy
Course Project: Annotated
Bibliographies
Dr. Gian Pagnucci
Required Annotated Bibliography Entries
Students will
annotate 6 non-class sources related to course topic. These annotations will be posted on the
class wiki. Annotations should be about 1 page in length, single spaced.
Annotated Bibliography Entry Topics
Each student will be asked to find, read, and annotate
6 article/book chapters.
Annotations should
cover any of the following course topics. Do not pick any of these
topics more than once. Do a total of 5 annotations for this part:
- literacy
- technology's impact on society
- technology-focused research
- teaching literacy with technology
- online/virtual communities
- online teaching
All students should
annotate one dissertation chapter related to the Technology Paper they
hope to write (but don't worry: if the topic of that paper eventually
shifts, that will be ok!). The topic of the dissertation annotation may
duplicate the topics listed above, though it does not have to be on one
of those topics. Just pick something related to your focus for your
Technology Paper:
- a chapter from a technology-focused dissertation
My
hope is
that doing this outside reading will give you something specific to
contribute to our class discussions of the above topics. This reading
should also expose you to interesting, cutting edge scholarship about
technology and literacy.
Submitting Annotated Bibliography Entries
You will be
required to bring one printout of your annotation to class. You will
also be required to submit one clean copy of the article/book chapter
for Dr. Pagnucci to add to his course files for future reference. You
will also be required your bring a copy of your annotation in digital
form (on a USB drive or email).
One annotated
bibliography entry is due each week for the middle portion of the
semester (specific due dates will be discussed in class). Creating Scholarly
Annotations
One of the most useful ways to write
an annotated bibliography entry is by following the format below:
- Full Citation--Get in the
habit of writing out the full citation of every article and book
chapter you read. If you take the time to read something, take the
time to write a citation of that reading. Keep a master bibliography
of everything you read that you can cut and paste from as you write
papers and your dissertation. Don't wait to write citations later.
Get in the habit of writing them out now! You never know when you
will need a citation of something you read.
- Summary of the Work--Your
summary should generally be 1-3 paragraphs in length for a standard
academic journal article. If you are annotating a book, it is
generally best to make one annotation entry for each chapter. When
summarizing empirical studies, discuss what the goals of the
research was, who the participants were, what the setting was, and
what the key research findings were. For theoretical works,
summarize the major theoretical positions the author was developing.
- Assessment of the Work--Next
discuss the quality of the work. How effectively has the author made
their case? Do the findings of a study seem accurate and reasonable?
Do theoretical positions seem to make sense? Also discuss any
limitations or weaknesses in an author's work. For instance, you
might say that a study of American students doing online peer review
in a MOO environment was accurate except that the author failed to
consider the way students' gender may have influenced their
conversations. It is fine and helpful to point out problems with an
author's assessments. However, it is unfair to raise an issue that
was outside the scope of a researcher's study. So, you might
criticize a researcher who fails to discuss the importance of the
gender of participants. But it is unfair to say a researcher failed
because they did not include any international students in the
study. The study has to be judged for what it attempted to do, not
what it could not do.
- Reflection on the Work--Here
discuss how the study relates to your own research project. Explain
how a study helps you define terms or is similar to your study but
also different. Your study should be related to other studies but
should also be filling a gap. At the same time, don't say "there are
no studies of my topic" just because you are researching Chinese
students' use of email and all the studies are of American students'
use of email. If you are researching email use, then any study of
email use is related. Your job is to show the connections as well as
the differences. If you aren't sure how a study relates to your
research, then reflect on questions and issues for discussion
that the study raised for you.
- Key Quotations--Copy down
2-3 verbatim quotes from the work that are well phrased or essential
to the author's argument or just really interesting. Be sure to
include the page references! It is also helpful if you can label
each of these quotes with a short heading reminding you that the
quote is about education or student learners or email usage or
whatever the subject is.
Sample Annotations
Resources on Writing
Bibliographic Annotations
Citation Format
Information
American Psychological Association (APA)
Style
APA is generally the preferred citation format
style for the C&T program. The reason APA style is preferred is that
it emphasizes the year in which research was conducted and this is very
helpful information to have when reviewing empirical studies. It is
usually best to find studies which are no older than 10 years. Studies
older than 10 years are generally only considered useful for providing
historical perspective, though seminal works which have stood the test
of time are well beyond 10 years in age.
Other Popular Citation Styles
Citation style preference often varies
by instructor as well as by academic journal. So it is important to be
familiar with the citation styles below (and often several other
citation styles as well!).
Useful Journals
Good sources for articles include:
Bibliographies about Technology
For an (unfortunately) un-annotated list of references
about technology, click the link below:
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