This assignment will help you work on the research skills you will need to locate, organize, cite, and summarize information for the speech assignments in this class.

Getting started

The first thing you will need to do is get a handle on what an “annotated works cited” is. Simply put, an annotated works cited is a list of sources, properly cited (as a reminder, our class uses MLA format), plus notes about the content of each source. You can read more about annotated works cited (also known as annotated bibliographies) on a lot of college websites; I like Cornell’s, and Purdue’s.

Understanding the task

For this assignment, you must find one of each of the following types of sources:

a newspaper article
an article from a magazine, or other non-peer-reviewed publication
an article from a peer-reviewed scholarly journal
a video or audio resource
a table, graph, infographic, or diagram

Making your Works Cited

A Works Cited list puts all the sources you used for your work (speech, essay, etc.) in a single document. In this class, we use MLA format. If you need help beyond what we discussed in class, consult the OWL at Purdue’s MLA resources or speak to me.

The topic of your Works Cited will be the topic you have already chosen and had approved for your Informative Speech. (If you have not yet had your topic approved, stop here and email me.)

Go to the Newman Library website. Type some relevant keywords into the search bar and select “Articles” from the dropdown menu (see below). You might start with just your topic (i.e. “investing” or “graphic design”) to see what comes up. You can refine from there using additional search terms (i.e. “investing” AND “beginner” or “graphic design” AND “logo design”) or filters. For example, you can filter for results in English. You can also make sure that your sources are up to date by using the date filtering options.

Screenshot of the Newman Library home page with an arrow pointing to the "Article" option on the search bar.

Now that your search has returned plenty of results, find your magazine or newspaper article. Based on your search results, you may need to narrow your topic to even further. For example, if you researched beginner investing you might focus only on sources that deal with online investment tools, or if you researched logo design you might focus on visualizing brand identity. Choose a source you’ve discovered in your search, open a Word document and write a citation for your source in proper MLA format.

Once you have your first article, go back to the library homepage and do the same steps over again EXCEPT this time you will need to click the box next to “Search scholarly journals only (peer-reviewed articles)”.

Screen shot of and "Article" search with an arrow pointing to the "Search scholarly journals only (peer-reviewed articles)".

Now you have your peer-reviewed article. Add your MLA-formatted citation to your document.

To find your audio of video resource, you may use the Newman Library search (select “Books + Articles + Video” from the dropdown menu) and filter for audio or video.

Alternatively, you can use your search engine of choice. Your resource could be a YouTube video, a TED Talk or TED Ed video, a podcast episode, a program from public radio, or similar. Choose one and add your MLA-formatted citation to your document.

The search options apply for finding your table, graph, infographic, or diagram. Please note that this resource MUST come from a separate source, you cannot use a visual from one of the sources you have already found. Choose one and add your MLA-formatted citation to your document.

Make sure that your name is on the document, it has an appropriate heading at the top, and is organized alphabetically.

Adding annotations

Now, read/view/listen to all your sources thoroughly and take notes about the content as you read (either digitally or on paper, if you have the ability to print). These notes should help you remember the main points of the source, and how this source might fit into a speech on your topic.

Use your notes to write a short summary of each source directly below the citation. Summaries should simply restate the important content from the source and be at least 4 sentences but no more than 8 sentences.

If you’re interested in developing your note-taking abilities, here are some “The Best Techniques for Taking Notes” by Thorin Klosowski, “How to Take Notes: 3 Effective Note-Taking Techniques” by Dustin Wax, and UNC Chapel Hill’s template for annotating journal articles.

Turning in the assignment

This assignment is due on Monday, September 23.

To turn in your assignment, you will upload your document to Brightspace. Go to the course page in Brightspace and click on the module called “Submit your assignments here”. Select “Annotated Works Cited Assignment”, upload your document, and submit it.

You can download a copy of these assignment instructions here.

You may want to refer to the “Appropriate Sources” or “MLA Format” handouts as you prepare this assignment.