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The Legacy of Mesoamerica: ANTH / LAS 2098 / HIST 3096

Find resources for information literacy assignments and final research paper

Creating an Annotated Bibliography

Need help creating annotated bibliographies? Below are a few sources that help explain what should be included in the annotations:

Information Literacy Assignment #2: Annotated Bibliography - Due 3/21/23

Purpose: Students will create an annotated bibliography of the seven (or more) sources found. Please follow a standard Chicago or Turabian's Author-Date Style. Title your annotated bibliography, for example "Ancient Mesoamerican Warfare: An Annotated Bibliography," and of course include your name on the document. Each annotation should be approximately ten sentences in length. Aim for brevity and synthesis. Annotations should include and will be graded on the following elements:

  • Briefly summarize the source's main idea.
  • Why did you choose the source over others on the topic? What is its importance, and what will it add to your project?
  • On what evidence have you established the authority and reliability of the source?

Annotations must include a brief discussion of the search strategies employed. This is where your research log will come into play. You might, for example, incorporate the following into your annotation:

  • Which database or other search tool did you use to find the source?
  • Which keywords, synonyms, and Boolean operators did you employ to query the database?
  • Did the database used to find the source incorporate a controlled vocabulary? If so, did you try it and was it useful?
  • Were your first set of search results adequate? If not, how did you refine or improve your search?
  • Which factors explain why results differed in, for example, Bibliografia Mesoamericana and HLAS or any other two databases?

For a better idea of what we are looking for, please see the evaluation rubric in the box directly below this one.

Evaluation Rubric for Assignment #3

Criteria for Evaluation Beginning Developing Competent Excellent
Search Tools

1 search tool used

 2 search tools used 3 search tools used 4 or more search tools used
Authority of Sources

No effort expended to identify authors or their credentials, or authors' credentials not relevant to topic.

Minimal effort expended to identify authors or their credentials, or authors' credentials only marginally relevant to topic.

 At least half of authors identified and their credentials mostly relevant to topic. Most or all authors identified and their credentials clearly relevant to topic.
Content Summarization Attempts but essentially fails to summarize each source's main idea. Does not clearly summarize each source's main idea. Clearly summarizes main ideas of nearly all sources used. Clearly summarizes main ideas of all sources used.
Content Relevance Does not attempt (or fails) to evaluate relevance of sources, which only marginally apply to topic. Evaluates relevance of at least half of sources used, which only generally apply to topic. Evaluates relevance of nearly all sources used; sources mostly apply to topic and generally support thesis. Carefully evaluates relevance of all sources used; sources strongly support thesis; demonstrates explicit connections to topic.
Search Strategies No effort expended to identify search syntax or methods. Demonstrates basic understanding of search syntax and methods. Demonstrates understanding of more advanced search syntax and methods. Demonstrates advanced understanding of search syntax and methods as well as strengths and weaknesses of individual search tools.
Bibliographic Format Citations follow no discernible bibliographic format or pattern of frequent citation errors. Citations follow a standard bibliographic format (Chicago, MLA, Turabian, etc.) with several citation errors. All citations are cited following a standard bibliographic format with no more than 3 citation errors. All citations are correctly cited following a consistent standard bibliographic format.