annotated bibliography drafting workshop

For the next hour you are going to be reading and critiquing TWO of your classmates’ bibliographies using the following draft workshop format:

Find a partner in your group to swap drafts with.
Use “track changes.”
Respond to the following questions by cutting and pasting these questions into the bottom of the draft you are reviewing and type in your response under each question. Be sure answer all questions.
Once you are done, email draft back to writer with your comments.

______________________________________________________

Part 1: The Summaries

  1. -Reach through each summary carefully.  Do the summaries succinctly describe the main argument of the topic?  If so, list one citation that gives good succinct summary. If not, list one citation that needs more information or has too much information, indicating what questions you still have or what parts seem extraneous (highlight or bold).
  2. -Does your classmate provide some evaluation or reflection on the usefulness of the article somewhere in the summary? Note (at least) one citation where their evaluation may be lacking.
  3. -Good annotated bibliographies have variety and comprehension and demonstrate a broad spectrum on the topic. Make a list the different topics for these annotations. Do these citations provide sufficient variety or do they mostly cover the same topic?
  4. -Based on these five citations what would you say the focus of your classmate’s topic is? Summarize it in 2-3 sentences:
  5. -Are there any sources in this bibliography that you might find helpful for your article? Which ones? If not, why not?

_____________________________________________________

Part 2: The Citations

  1. -Using refworks (or citation machine), check each citation carefully for correctness. Are the citations in the correct MLA format (or whatever format they are using)?
  2. -Do they list the volume and issue in the appropriate location, followed by the year?
  3. -Is the title of the journal article in quotations? Is the title of the journal or book underlined or italicized?
  4. -Do they have the page numbers for the journal article or book chapter?
  5. -Is there any unnecessary information provided?

writing in the natural sciences