Unlocking the Evidence: The Annotated Bibliography Assignment Before you dive into writing your final history project, you need to gather your evidence. That’s where the Annotated Bibliography comes in. Think of this as your research playbook. It is a way to organize your sources, test their reliability, and map out exactly how you will use them. Let’s break down what those fancy words actually mean: Bibliography: A neat list of sources (books, articles, websites) used to research a topic. You usually see these at the very end of a book or paper. Annotated: This simply means "with notes" or "explained." Putting it together, an Annotated Bibliography is a list of research sources where each citation is followed by a short, punchy paragraph explaining what the source is and why it matters to your project. The Goal For your upcoming History Research Project, you must select a minimum of four high-quality sources. For this assignment, you will formally cite those four sources and write a short annotation for each one. The ultimate goal is to figure out exactly how each book or article will help you build your final project so you aren't staring at a blank page later! What to Include for Each Source For every source on your list, you need to provide two elements: 1. The Citation At the top of the entry, list the source using MLA, APA, or Chicago format (Chicago is the standard for historians!). This tells your reader the author, title, publisher, and date so they can find it themselves. Note: You may include a link, but never provide only a link. Formatting Tip: List sources in alphabetical order by the author’s last name and use a hanging indent (where the first line is flush against the margin and the following lines are indented). 2. The Annotation Paragraph Directly beneath your citation, write a well-crafted paragraph (roughly 150–200 words) that hits three critical checkpoints: Summarize: What is the "big idea" of this source? What is the author’s main argument? Evaluate: Is this source trustworthy? Is the author an expert? Is it a peer-reviewed academic article or a book from a reputable publisher? (We want high-quality evidence, not random blogs!) Connect (The Most Important Part!): How exactly will this help you in your final project? Does it provide essential background history? Does it offer specific statistics? Does it support your thesis, or does it present a counterargument you need to address? See It in Action Here is an example entry using our OpenStax textbook. It is formatted using the Chicago Manual of Style and neatly weaves together the summary, evaluation, and connection. Corbett, P. Scott, Volker Janssen, John M. Lund, Todd Pfannestiel, Paul Vickery, and Sylvie Waskiewicz. U.S. History. Houston: OpenStax, 2023. https://openstax.org/details/books/us-history. Annotation: This peer-reviewed digital textbook provides a comprehensive, chronological overview of American history from pre-Columbian times to the modern era. Written by a team of professional historians, it emphasizes the diverse experiences of different social classes, genders, and racial groups across major historical turning points. Because OpenStax is a fully vetted, open-educational resource published by Rice University, it serves as a highly reliable secondary source for foundational historical facts. For my final research project on the home front during World War II, this book will be incredibly helpful for establishing the broader national context. Specifically, I plan to use Chapter 27, Section 3 on how wartime production mobilized women into the workforce, which will serve as historical context to explore present-day concerns about women in the labor market. Whole-Assignment Formatting Deductions While each source is graded on its own merits, please double-check these final formatting details before you hit submit to avoid losing flat points across the whole assignment: Source Count: You must have a minimum of four high-quality sources. One of those sources must be a primary source. Each missing source is an automatic loss of the 25 points allocated for that entry. Alphabetical Order: Your entries must be organized alphabetically by the author's last name (or title, if no author is listed). (-5 points if not alphabetized) Style Consistency: Do not mix and match citation styles. If you start with Chicago Style, all four entries must use Chicago Style. (-5 points if styles are mixed)