BIOS 3010: Ecology, Dr Stephen Malcolm

Term Paper: Grading Rubric for Annotated Bibliography

The annotated bibliography is an opportunity for you to see how your information research is shaping up for your term paper. By the annotated bibliography’s due date you should have at least ten peer-reviewed primary information sources. The annotations allow you to extract and express in your own words how each paper is relevant to your hypothesis topic. You can begin to see what evidence supports your hypothesis and what refutes it or is neutral (supplies background information). This should help you decide if you need to continue to research for more information or if you have enough to structure your arguments. In your paper you want to present all sides of the issue before reaching a conclusion about where you stand based on the available evidence. Finally the annotated bibliography ensures you can cite your references in the required style for clarity and consistency.

Credit for the annotated bibliography is based on citation accuracy; source quality, currency and appropriateness; relevance of the information to the paper’s hypothesis topic; and value/usefulness of the annotations. All annotations must be expressed in your own words. Plagiarism is inadmissible. For clarification about what constitutes plagiarism see:

http://www.wmich.edu/library/searchpath/module6/index.html

Or, http://library.acadiau.ca/tutorials/plagiarism/

For full credit for the annotated bibliography you need to submit the following by the due date:

a) Your paper hypothesis topic

b) At least ten quality primary information sources, cited in the style of the journal Ecology.

c) Annotations for each citation that includes a statement about how this citation supports, refutes or is neutral with respect to your hypothesis. (If an individual citation includes some evidence that supports and also some that refutes then explain how this is the case). No more than 5 of the 10 citations should be neutral. If this is the case you need to do more research to find information that bears directly on your hypothesis.

d) A copy of the first page of each of your ten citations.

Dr Barbara Cockrell is the information consultant for this class. Please contact her with questions about your information research and the annotated bibliography. Her office hours at Science Reference, Waldo Library are generally:

Monday 1:00 - 4:00 p.m.

Wednesday 10:00 a.m. – 12 noon

Thursday 1:00-4:00 p.m.

However, because of teaching commitments her schedule may vary so it is best to arrange an appointment ahead (tel: 387-5142, or email: barbara.cockrell@wmich.edu)

If you want feedback/suggestions about your search strategy please include keywords and the names of indexes you have tried.

Annotated Bibliography	Score
Hypothesis topic (1 point)
Citations in style of journal Ecology (4 points)
Ten primary sources with copy of the first page (10 points)
Relevance of sources to topic (5 points)
Value/usefulness of annotations (positive, negative or neutral to hypothesis (10 points)
Total score/30