Jane Lucas

As you continue to revise your final essay and annotated bibliography, consider visiting the Writing Center. If you do so, you will earn five bonus points for the assignment.

To schedule an appointment, visit https://highpoint.mywconline.com, email the Writing Center’s director, Professor Justin Cook, at jcook3@highpoint.edu, or scan the QR code below. To earn bonus points for your final essay and annotated bibliography, consult with a Writing Center tutor no later than Thursday, April 11. The due date for posting the assignment to Blackboard and to your WordPress blog is Wednesday, April 10 (before class); the hard deadline is Friday, April 12 (before class).

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Next Up

In class on Wednesday, you will compose a short essay that reflects on the process of researching and writing your final essay and annotated bibliography. In your essay, you will include a minimum of one relevant quotation from Writing Analytically.

Monday in class, after your Scrabble debriefing, you read a sample final essay and annotated bibliography written by a student last semester. After you read and took notes on that sample assignment, you and two or three of your classmates collaboratively composed a one-paragraph assessment of it. Among the points that some of you addressed in your assessments include these:

• The writer does mention her interest in whether writing longhand is more beneficial that typing, but she does not move beyond the simple either/or notion of the subject. A more substantive introduction would find her posing such questions as, in what contexts might writing longhand prove more beneficial than typing, and in what other contexts might the opposite be the case? The choice of sources might shed light on that, but her bibliography lacks a variety of perspectives. All of the sources except her interview with a classmate focus on published authors’ pereferences for beginning the writing process by composing longhand.
• The final essay does not include the minimum requirement of two quotations (one quotation from one source, a second from a second source), and the quotation is not followed by a parenthetical citation.
• The bibliography does meet the five-source minimum, but the sources are not presented in the correct order. They should be alphabetized by the authors’ last names.
• One of the bibliographic entries does not include the author’s name.
• The publication/interview information for each source is followed by a paragraph of summary and a second paragraph of commentary, but the commentaries are insufficient. Rather than offering some assessment of the source (explaining its usefulness, comparing it to another source), the commentaries primarily reiterate the ideas presented in the summaries that precede them.
• The final essay and annotated bibliography is marred by errors of diction, grammar, punctuation, mechanics, and style. The mistake of writing the word cancer, instead of the intended word, chance, is an egregious error of diction (par. 4).

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Additional Research and Writing

This morning we will review the points outlined above, and you will have the remainder of the class period to conduct additional research and compose additional portions of your final essay and annotated bibliography. Tasks to undertake include these:

• Using the HPU Libraries databases to locate additional sources.
• If the subject of your final essay/annotated bibliography has a Wikipedia page, locating that page, scrolling down to the list of references, and identifying one that might serve as one of your sources.
• Using Google Scholar to locate a potential source.
• Composing an annotation for one of your sources.
• Reviewing the sources you have gathered and noting what similarities and differences you can identify among them. Those similarities and differences may serve as material for your essay or your commentaries.

Next Up

When class resumes next Wednesday, you will have additional time for locating sources and composing annotations for your final essay and annotated bibliography.

The student’s sample final essay and annotated bibliography that you reviewed yesterday in class included quotations from print sources without the required parenthetical citations. Remember that all of your sources except your interview (your nonprint source) should include parenthetical citations. If the source is paginated, include the page number in parentheses. If the source isn’t paginated included the abbreviation par. followed by the paragraph number in parentheses. Include the author’s name in parenetheses as well if he or she is not named in the signal phrase.

Examples

According to the author of “Scrabble is a Lousy Game,” it “treats language the way computers do—as arbitrarily ordered codes stored in a memory chip” (Kay, par. 7).

In Kay’s words, “Scrabble treats language the way computers do—as arbitrarily ordered codes stored in a memory chip” (par. 7).

The author of “Tabletop Games and 21st Century Skills Practice in the Undergraduate Classroom” observes that “two of the four Cs, communication and collaboration, figured prominently” (Hayse 298).

In “Tabletop Games and 21st Century Skills Practice in the Undergraduate Classroom,” Mark Hayse observes that “two of the four Cs, communication and collaboration, figured prominently” (298).

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Note that the parenthetical citation with the author’s name and the page number does not include a comma but the parenthetical citation with the author’s name and the paragraph number does include one.

Quoting an Indirect Source

In the sample final essay and annotated bibliography, the student writer quotes the article “The Case for Writing Longhand,” but the words the student quotes aren’t those of the article’s writer, Sarah Bahr; they’re the words of Sam Anderson, one of the writers interviewed by Bahr. The quotation and its parenthetical citation should have appeared in one of these two ways:

In Bahr’s supports interview with Sam Anderson, a New York Times writer, Anderson says, “[H]e likes that the process slows him down and puts him in touch with his thoughts” (qtd. in par. 5).

Sam Anderson, a New York Times writer, says, “[H]e likes that the process slows him down and puts him in touch with his thoughts” (qtd. in Bahr, par. 5).

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Works Cited

Bahr, Sarah. “The Case for Writing Longhand.” The New York Times, 21 Jan. 2022. ProQuest, https://libproxy.highpoint.edu/loginurl=https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/case-writing-longhand/docview/2621453011/se-2. 

Hayse, Mark. “Tabletop Games and 21st Century Skill Practice in the Undergraduate Classroom.” Teaching Theology & Religion, vol. 21, no. 4, 2018, pp. 288–
302., https://onlinelibrary-wiley-com.libproxy.highpoint.edu /doi/epdf/10.1111/teth.12456.

Kay, Jonathan. Review. “Scrabble is a Lousy Game.” The Wall Street Journal, 4 Oct.
2018. ProQuest, https://libproxy.highpoint.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com /newspapers/scrabble-is-lousy-game-why-would-anyone- play/docview/2116081665/se- 2?accountid=11411.

Next Up

In class tomorrow, you will have additional time for locating sources and composing annotations for your own final essay and annotated bibliography.

Today in class, after your Scrabble debriefing, you will read a sample final essay and annotated bibliography written by a student last semester. After you read and make notes on the sample assignment, you and two or three of your classmates will collaboratively compose a one-paragraph assessment of it. Questions to consider in your assessment include these:

• Does the essay answer the questions included in the first bullet point in the key features section of the assignment?
• Does the essay include quotations from at least two of the sources in the bibliography? Are the quotations introduced with signal phrases? Are parenthetical citations included where needed?
• Does the bibliography include a minimum of five sources, an interview with a classmate and at least four print sources?
• Are the sources in the bibliography listed in the correct order?
• Does the bibliographic entry for each source include complete MLA-style publication or interview information?
• Is the publication or interview information for each source followed by a paragraph of summary?
• Is each summary followed by a paragraph of commentary?
• Does each commentary answer some of the questions included in the third bullet point in the key features section of the assignment?
• Is the final essay and annotated bibliography marred by errors of diction, grammar, punctuation, mechanics, and/or style? If so, note at least one specific example in your assessment.

After you complete your assessment, review the grade criteria on your final essay and annotated bibliography assignment handout, and assign a grade.

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Next Up

In class on Wednesday, you will have additional time for locating sources and composing annotations for your own final essay and annotated bibliography.

Interview Assignment

Your final essay and annotated bibliography will focus on one of the authors we have studied or one of elements of the course, including (1) blogging in the classroom, (2) limiting screen time, (3) writing longhand, and (4) playing Scrabble. As a starting point, you will conduct a short personal interview that will serve as one of the sources for your project. If you decide that you do not want to use the interview that you conduct today, you are welcome to include another one in your project. Keep in mind, however, that the interview you include in your project must be conducted with a student currently enrolled in section 20 or 21, and the subject of the interview must be the subject of your project.

Questions to ask your interviewee include the following:

1. What experience, if any, did you have with the subject (the reading or the aspect of the course) before you encountered it in English 1103?
2. Has it changed your perspective on reading and/or writing? If so, how?
3. Will you continue to pursue the subject (read more work by the author, continue the classroom practice or activity) after the conclusion of the semester?

After you conduct your interview, compose on the worksheet provided a sentence in which you introduce a quotation from the interview with a signal phrase or clause, such as, According to . . . , or [insert first and last name] notes or observes or points out that . . . .” Your quotation will not be followed by a parenthetical citation because it is a form of oral communication (without page or paragraph numbers). See the sample on your worksheet.

Follow your quotation with annotated bibliography entry in this format:

Annotated Bibliography*

Last Name, First Name. Interview. Conducted by Your First Name Your Last Name. Day Month Year.

*Note that you will use the header annotated bibliography, not works cited, in your final essay and annotated bibliography.

Below the work cited/bibliography entry, compose a one-paragraph summary of the interview followed by a second shorter paragraph that identifies the student by class and major (or undeclared) and addresses what role the interview might serve in a larger project. Would it serve as a point of comparison or contrast to another source? Would it support or challenge an idea presented in another source? See the model below.

Sample Quotation with Signal Clause

English 1103 student Jesse Brewer observes that Scrabble has expanded his vocabulary, saying it has “introduced me to new words, which allows me to read and write more capably in everyday life.”

Sample Annotated Bibliographic Entry

Brewer, Jesse. Interview. Conducted by Jane Lucas. 20 Oct. 2023.

English 1103 student Jesse Brewer recounts how he has played Scrabble for most of his life. Ever since he was a young child, he has played the game with his grandparents whenever he visited their home in Pennsylvania. Brewer will continue to play Scrabble after the end of the semester because the game remains a tradition in his family. In his words, “[M]y grandmother is still going to want to play it every summer.” Brewer also notes that the game has expanded his vocabulary, saying it has “introduced me to new words, which allows me to read and write more capably in everyday life.”

Brewer is a freshman computer science major at High Point University, where he is currently enrolled in English 1103, section 20. His remarks on vocabulary building highlight the game’s verbal benefits, and his observations on Scrabble as a family tradition serve as a point of contrast to that of some other students’—such as Ava Salvant’s—who had not played Scrabble before playing it as a weekly exercise in English 1103.

Note that the first paragraph of the bibliography entry, the summary, is written in present tense and third person. Also note that after the first mention of the interviewee’s name, he is referred to by last name.

The annotated bibliographic entry for your interview will be shorter than your other entries because (1) you are annotating a brief interview, and (2) your classmate does not have the credentials that you will list in the annotations for your other sources.

The complete final essay/annotated bibliography assignment appears below.

Overview

An annotated bibliography is a list of sources on a subject that includes a summary of each source. Some bibliographies include additional information, such as the authors’ credentials. That is the type of bibliography that you will compose along with your final essay for the course.

Key Features

• Your final essay, which is an introductory essay of three or more paragraphs that (1) presents the subject of your bibliography, and (2) addresses your purpose for compiling it. In other words: What drives your research? What interests you about the subject, and what question/s do you seek to answer about your subject?
• A complete MLA-style bibliography entry for each source.
• A one-paragraph summary of each source followed by a shorter second paragraph that presents the writer’s credentials and addresses the purpose that the source might serve in a larger project. Would it serve as a point of comparison or contrast to another source? Would it support or challenge an idea presented in another source? Is it a secondary source that sheds light on the meaning of a primary source? The last question pertains primarily to bibliographies that focus on one of the writers studied in the course.

Preliminary Work—What to Complete in Class Today

Personal Interview

Your final essay and annotated bibliography will focus on one of the authors we have studied or one of elements of the course, including (1) blogging in the classroom, (2) limiting screen time, (3) writing longhand, and (4) playing Scrabble. As a starting point, you will conduct a short personal interview that will serve as one of the sources for your project. If you decide that you do not want to use the interview that you conduct today, you are welcome to include another one in your project. Keep in mind, however, that the interview you include in your project must be conducted with a student currently enrolled in section 20 or 21, and the subject of the interview must be the subject of your project.

1. Begin by conducting a short personal interview and composing an annotated bibliographic entry for the interview. For more information, see the paragraphs under the header PRELIMINARY WORK—What to Complete in Class Today.
2. Compose an annotated bibliographic entry for the source that serves as the starting point for your research. See the list of texts that follows.
3. Use the HPU Libraries site, https://www.highpoint.edu/library/, and Google Scholar to locate a minimum of three additional reliable and relevant print sources (articles, essays, and/or books) devoted to the same subject. Compose your summaries and commentaries in complete sentences, introduce any quotations with signal phrases, and include parenthetical citations where needed. Your bibliography must include five sources, four of which must be print. (Your personal interview is a nonprint source.) If you wish to include an additional non-print source, such as a video, you may include that as a sixth source.
4. After you have composed your annotated bibliography entries, write an introductory essay that (1) presents the subject of your bibliography, and (2) addresses your purpose for compiling it. In other words: What drives your research? What question do you seek to answer about your subject? Also, (3) What larger project might develop from your bibliography? Would it be a project for a course in psychology, science, education, or another discipline? Address all five of your sources in your essay, and quote at least two of them.

Note: Though your introductory essay will precede your annotated bibliography, you will compose it last because you will need to re-read and summarize your sources before you will know how to address them in your essay.

Directions for Researching, Drafting, Revising, and Submitting

1. Devote today’s class primarily to conducting a personal interview and composing an annotated bibliography entry for the interview. You will have two additional Wednesdays to work in class on your final essay and annotated bibliography before you post your revision to Blackboard and to your WordPress blog.
2. Before class on the due date: Post a copy of your revision to Blackboard and to your blog. In your blog post, omit the first-page information included in your file submitted to Blackboard (your name, professor’s name, course and section, and date). Add to your blog post an image that documents some part of your writing process away from the screen, such as the summary of your source in your journal, today’s worksheet, or a page of your draft. Also add an embedded link to a relevant web site. Even though your work for this assignment will take place primarily in front of the screen, your writing process still involves putting pen to paper, and photographic documentation of that on your blog is a requirement of the assignment.

Sample Annotated Bibliography Entries

Bahr, Sarah. “The Case for Writing Longhand.” The New York Times, 21 Jan. 2022. ProQuest, https://libproxy.highpoint.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/case-writing-longhand/docview/2621453011/se-2. 

Barthelme, Donald. “The School.” The Best American Short Stories 1975, edited by Martha Foley, Houghton Mifflin, 1975. pp. 8-11.

Junod, Tom. “The Falling Man.” Esquire, vol. 140, no. 3, Sept. 2003, pp. 176+. Gale Academic OneFile Select, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A106423422/EAIM?u=hpu_main&sid=bookmark-EAIM&xid=ce48797f.

Kay, Jonathan. “Scrabble is a Lousy Game.” The Wall Street Journal, 4 Oct. 2018. ProQuest, https://libproxy.highpoint.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/scrabble-is-lousy-game-why-would-anyone-play/docview/2116081665/se-2?accountid=11411.

Keller, Helen. “The Day Language Came into My Life.” Chapter Four. The Story of My Life. https://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/keller/life/life.html.

King, Martin Luther, Jr. “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute, Stanford University, https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/sites/mlk/files/letterfrombirmingham_wwcw_0.pdf.

Lewis, Michael. Chapter One: “Back Story.” The Blind Side. 2006. Norton, 2009. pp. 15-16.

Richtel, Matt. “Blogs vs. Term Papers.” New York Times, 20 Jan. 2012. ProQuest, https://libproxy.highpoint.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/blogs-podcasts-websites/blogs-vs-term-papers/docview/2216251885/se-2.

Rosenwasser, David and Jill Stephen. “Arriving at an Interpretive Conclusion: Making Choices.” Writing Analytically, 9th edition. Wadsworth/Cengage, 2024. pp. 111-12.

Sedaris, David. “Me Talk Pretty One Day.” Me Talk Pretty One Day. Little, Brown, 2000. pp. 166-73.

Wolf, Maryanne. “Skim Reading is the New Normal. The Effect on Society is Profound.” The Guardian, 25 Aug. 2018, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/aug/25/skim-reading-new-normal-maryanne-wolf.

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Grade Criteria

An A final essay and annotated bibliography includes these components:

• An introductory essay of three or more paragraphs that (1) presents the subject of your bibliography, and (2) addresses your purpose for compiling it. In other words: What drives your research? What question do you seek to answer about one of the subjects that you’ve studied in the course or about one aspect of the course? Also, (3) what larger project might develop from your bibliography? Would it be a project for a course in science, psychology, education, or another discipline?
• A complete works cited/bibliographic entry for a minimum of five reliable and relevant sources, four of which are print. Alphabetize the list by the writers’ last names.
• A one-paragraph summary of each source followed by a shorter paragraph of commentary that presents the writer’s credentials.  

An A final essay and annotated bibliography complies with the requirements above and is also cohesive and relatively free of surface errors.

A B final essay and annotated bibliography effectively meets all of the requirements above but may be flawed by minor issues of organization and/or surface errors.

A C final essay and annotated bibliography meets most but not all of the requirements above and may also be flawed by issues of organization and/or surface errors.

A D final essay and annotated bibliography meets only a few of the requirements above and may also be flawed by issues of organization and/or surface errors.

An F final essay and annotated bibliography fails to meet the requirements above and may also be flawed by substantial issues of organization and/or surface errors.

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Next Up

Wordplay Day! To prepare for class, revisit the Dictionary and World Builder pages on the Scrabble website. Also review the blog posts devoted to Scrabble tips.