Annotated Bibliography - Project 5 (50% of grade)

Compile an annotated bibliography — preferably on a topic you find genuinely interesting which will be of practical value to you in your career.

The research for this project may be related to work done in other classes at Ohio State, so long as this project does not satisfy the requirements for another course.

Your bibliography should list all major sources, including works published in foreign languages. It may consist of (among other sources) books, articles, dissertations, scores, holographs, oral history recordings, letters, and Internet resources. You may make it either a single alphabetized list or a classified list (a series of alphabetized lists devoted to various aspects of the topic).

Your bibliography should contain no fewer than 25 citations. If your topic is too narrow to generate a minimum of 25 major sources, consult me about ways to expand its scope or your method of research.

If major sources are omitted from your project, including items published in foreign languages, your grade will be adversely affected. You must search all relevant tools included in the Pro-Forma Bibliographic Checklist and include citations and annotations for all significant sources.

Start by making a preliminary bibliography on index cards, one card per source. Decide whether a given source should be included in your final bibliography or rejected. If it is to be included, write your first draft of an annotation on the index card below the citation. If a source is to be rejected (perhaps it looked important at first, but turned out not to be), write your reasons for rejecting it below the citation. A brief handwritten annotation on your card might read something like this: "Seen - not pertinent," or "Scholarship too popular or low-level," or "Unoriginal M.A. thesis from Such-and-Such University."

Bibliographic citations must be single-spaced and in hanging indent form — the second and subsequent lines indented half an inch under the first line. Annotations should be at least one paragraph in length (three sentences minimum), and should be concisely written in complete sentences, single-spaced, appearing one line below the bibliographic citation. Annotations for citations in the bibliography should be written in declarative style, as explained in How to Write a RILM Abstract.

For sources you are unable to examine, the annotation may simply indicate "Unavailable" or "Perhaps relevant but not seen." But your index cards should clearly indicate your early and continued attempts to order these items through OhioLINK or Illiad.

The bibliography should be your work. If you quote from other authors, do so sparingly and judiciously. At least 20 annotations must be your own, free of quotations from other sources, and not including those listed as unavailable. Be sure to credit others' work scrupulously. It is permissible to quote a RILM abstract or an abstract from another annotated bibliography, especially if the original work is in a language you are unable to read, or to quote phrases from a dissertation abstract, provided you credit the source. It is not permissible to claim these abstracts as your own work by not crediting sources. This constitutes plagiarism, a serious academic offense that can result in expulsion from the university.

The Ohio State University defines plagiarism as the representation of another's works or ideas as one's own. This includes the unacknowledged word-for-word use or paraphrasing of another person's work, or the inappropriate unacknowledged use of another person's ideas. See Academic Misconduct, paragraph C.

A preface of approximately three to five pages — double-spaced — should introduce the bibliography. The preface should explain

(a) The title of the project. Define the topic and describe its scope. Have you chosen to exclude literature from a certain time period? Are you seeking the answer to a particular question, surveying the available literature in a certain field, or investigating a topic for further research?

(b) How the bibliography is organized. How many subdivisions are there? What are the topics and sub-topics? Are there appendices?

(c) Your method of research. Describe the process of compiling your bibliography. Where did you find the most helpful information? Where did you look without finding anything? What kinds of information did you look for? Which reference works or databases were useful? (You should attach your "Pro-Forma Bibliographic Checklist" at the end of the paper as an appendix, but this section should summarize the most important elements of your research process.)

(d) Aspects of the topic that warrant further research. What has not been thoroughly studied by scholars that might repay further investigation?

(e) The history of scholarship on your topic from early investigations to the present. Discuss the significant contributions to this field made by various scholars.

(f) The state of research or available information in your field. What are the difficulties of research in this area? What gaps remain to be filled?

If your topic is a composition, you should attempt to find information about the location and condition of the holograph and other important sources (e.g., first edition, letters to the publisher from the composer listing corrections, and copyist manuscripts). This information should be given in the introduction, or form the first section of a classified or systematic annotated bibliography (e.g., "Primary and Secondary Sources, and Edition History").

Suggested Procedure. Use index cards to sort, classify, and assemble your bibliography. The 5" x 8" cards are preferable to 3" x 5"; they have lots of room for handwritten annotations, and for describing your attempts to locate items through interlibrary loan. Remember that you can request OhioLINK items online, and usually receive them within three to five business days. Points will be deducted if you list items as "unavailable" that are available through OhioLINK.

Labor-saving hint. Most successful students do not write everything out by hand in preparing bibliography cards. They make photocopies and printouts from reference sources, reduce or enlarge them by photocopier as needed, and then paste them to their cards. Of course, photocopies or downloads often need to be edited to get them into proper bibliographic form for the final bibliography. Remember that the OSU online catalog will not give you periodical articles, and that online databases often do not go back in time far enough to cover the scope of your project. So you will still need to use the printed indexes listed on the checklist, and write your citations by hand the old-fashioned way.

Put your completed project in a pocket-folder or envelope containing the following items: (a) The word-processed bibliography, (b) the index cards for items included, (c) the index cards representing rejections, and (d) a completed "Pro-Forma Bibliographic Checklist" showing which print and electronic reference sources you consulted and the manner in which you consulted them (e.g., search terms and Boolean or proximity operators used).

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