ESSAY 3—ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY AND AUTOETHNOGRAPHY
Annotated Bibliography: June 4
Rough Draft: June 8
Final draft due in class during the Finals Period (8 a.m. class: Friday, June 15 from
8:00 a.m. – 10 a.m; 9 a.m. class: Thursday, June 14 from 8:00 a.m. – 10 a.m.)
Throughout the quarter, we have been examining the content of other people’s personal
archives. You will now focus on your own archive, gathering information about and
analyzing your own culture or subculture.
The Annotated Bibliography will allow you to gather and comment on outside sources
related to your subculture. These sources will include both library sources (such as
reference books and articles from the library database) and, potentially, interviews and
other sources that draw on your personal archive. You must have 6 sources for the both the
Annotated Bibliography and the final paper.
Expectations:
Your final essay will be 6-7 pages, double-spaced, in 12-point Times New Roman font. It
will be formatted according to MLA guidelines and include a “Works Cited” page at the end.
In this paper, you will also be required to incorporate at least 6 sources that help you to
address and expand the context of your subculture. At least one of these sources must be
from a scholarly or peer-reviewed journal and at least one of them should be a
multimedia source. (Please note that these sources may differ slightly from those used in
the Annotated Bibliography.)
What is Autoethnography?
• Autoethnograhy is a recognized qualitative social research method where the researcher
documents a group by recording his or her own individual experience. It foregrounds
experience and story as a meaning-making enterprise.
• Autoethnographic essays involve thinking critically and writing about a specific “culture”
or “subculture” that you, the writer, have experienced or belonged to in your life. Culture
can be identified as the way of life of an entire society. A subculture is a group of people
who would identify themselves as a group with common beliefs, actions, and goals.
Assignment
For this essay, you will provide an analysis of the rituals, hierarchies, language practices,
and/or significant artifacts of your subculture. You may want to begin with one piece of
evidence from your personal archive (such as a photo, a significant quotation, a letter, a
ticket stub, etc.) as a way into your paper or as a focal point.
In this paper, you will still be moving continually between claims and evidence— between
concrete, vivid details of experience and you answer to the “So what” question—but the
evidence will come from your personal experience and your research.
WRITING AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
An annotated bibliography is a list of sources in which each citation is followed by a short
summary and evaluation. The Annotated Bibliography has two functions:
 It provides people in a particular field with access to significant and current
information about relevant sources.
 It provides you with the opportunity to become familiar with a particular area of
study.
Your annotated bibliography will include at least 8 sources related to your (sub)culture. Of
these sources,
 3 must be database or print sources. (This includes books, magazines, and articles
from library databases)
 1 must be peer-reviewed. (Note: This will also count as one of your
 1 must be a multimedia source
Sources such as interviews and other articles of your personal archive are encouraged.
Getting Started
 Record full bibliographic details, including author’s name, title of publication,
publisher’s name, year and place of publication, and if appropriate, page numbers.
Use MLA style throughout.
 Write the annotation as a short summary of the contents of each text (3-5
sentences) followed by a brief response to /critique of the source (3-5 sentences).
Writing the summary
To write an effective summary for an annotation you need to read for the main ideas and
write them clearly and concisely in your own words. You can also add quotations to the
summary if those quotations make it more effective. If you do add quotations, make sure to
use the “quote sandwich”; no paragraph should begin or end with a quotation. Ask yourself
the following questions to focus on the source’s main ideas:
 What is the primary goal or argument of this source?
 What ideas and evidence are used to support this point?
Writing the critique/response
The critique is your critical response to the item you have read, and it comes after the
summary. To write an effective critique you need to draw on all your extended knowledge
about the topic by asking yourself questions like
 What does it contribute to my understanding of the topic?
 What are this source’s research methods and criteria? What are the author’s
credentials, and are they convincing?
 What are the limitations for this study or argument? What are its strengths?
 Will this source be helpful to me when I write this paper? Why? Why not?