Genetic modified foods
Essay 2: Annotated Bibliography
For your second major assignment, we will continue our discussion of food production issues pertaining to sustainability and the need to feed a growing world population. In this essay you will communicate your exploration, research, and reflection as you listen to, evaluate, and record the conversation surrounding food production. Acceptable topics include a discussion of GMO foods, the Green Revolution, or Nobel Prize Laureate Norman Borlaug. This could build from the interests you explored in your first essay on sustainability, or you can follow a different track. Was there something about your definition of sustainability that piqued your curiosity and warrants further exploration? This could also be an opportunity for you to delve deeper into an issue or question surrounding your chosen field.
This assignment won’ be a formal essay but a document that demonstrates your engagement with the research process. At its completion your assignment will consist of three (3) parts, each of them recording the steps you’ve taken in researching your ethical problem or issue, understanding your sources, and evaluating the direction you’ll take for the final research-supported argumentative essay. This assignment will tell your research story from inquiry (exploration of a research question) to claim (tentativ thesis).
For guidance in successfully completing this assignment, consult RRW, Ch. 1 (summary/paraphrase, embedding direct quotations in your prose), Ch. 12 (finding and evaluating sources, preparing an annotated bibliography), Ch. 13 (studying sources) and Ch. 14 (formal documentation for MLA or APA documentation style).
The most important thing to understand is that this is not an assignment you can write in one sitting from beginning to end. Itís a construction project that, in many ways, builds from the inside out.
Think of the finished product in terms of the following general outline:
Part I: Exploratory Narrative (500+ words)
The first section of the assignment will be a 1st person narrative that tells the story of your intellectual journey, beginning with your research question. You should use your research question as the title of the document. This portion of the assignment will let the reader know how your process began and progressed, what sources you found, what they were saying, and where they led you. Iím interested here in the chronological path of your process. As you can imagine, you can be drafting this section throughout the process. Consider also that books, articles, database materials, and websites are not the only relevant sources available. An interview with someone in your field, for example, might give you further insight and background into the question.
Important:Your sources here will reflect how your research develops. There is no expectation that these sources are the ones that will appear in the final paper or that they will be balanced, that is, so many for or against an issue. In fact, it’s unlikely
that all the sources will appear in the final paper. Also, resist the impulse to select only those sources that support any opinions or judgments you may already have about your topic. Reserve judgment and see where the research leads you.
Part II: Annotated Bibliography (minimum of 6 entries – 150+ words each). At least 2 sources should be accessed using the library’s ENGL 1304 Research Guide.
An annotated bibliography is like an expanded Works Cited (MLA) or References (APA) page where your reader sees not only the formal citation but a paragraph containing a summary and explanation of each source. You’ll list your sources alphabetically according to MLA or APA citation style as you would in a Works Cited or References page. Each formal citation will be followed by a short paragraph containing description and summary, an indication of the credibility, authority, or bias of the source, and a statement of how the source might fight into an argument.
Part III: Reflection and Tentative Thesis (200+ words)
The final section will give the reader a sense of where your research stands now, what’s left to be done, and what conclusions you may have drawn from participating in the conversation surrounding your question. Like the first section of the assignment, 1st person makes sense here. You can think of your final document as a rhetorical sandwich: an objective 3rd person annotated bibliography between two 1st person narratives. You’ll have a chance to flex your voice and tone muscles with this assignment.
Conclude Part III with your tentative thesis. What stand can you take, now that you’ve looked at the sources? Will you have a definitional claim? An evaluative claim? A causal claim? A proposal? The thesis is tentative and can be revised or changed in the final assignment.
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