sample+annotated+bibliography

Hello Everyone--

Here is the sample annotated bibliography (scroll all the way down) that I wrote in class about Nagin's first chapter in //Because Writing Matters//. Your annotation will sound differently than mine--this is my job, remember, to know who these theorists are and to understand significance differently, but it gives you my version of the basics of doing an annotation. Again, here are the four basic elements and the order they should appear in in an annotation:

1) A sentence or two that articulates the main argument of the article/chapter/web site.

2) A sentence or two that articulates HOW the author makes her argument. So sentences about methodology: the author experimented, did a literature review, posed a counter argument, conducted case studies, interviewed--or some combination of all of these things.

3) A sentence about the SIGNIFICANCE of the article--this is GLOBAL: so why is this article important in general in terms of this sort of research.

4) A sentence about APPLICATION. This is about YOU as the reader/researcher. How does this article make you think about being a teacher in a classroom? Does it help you? Warn you? Validate you? Suggest something new?

Incidentally, the citation information is in APA format. That information is avaliable online (in many places) including BSU library website and the Maxguide page for our class that I showed you last week. Keep in mind that this annotation appears single spaced here, but I'm attaching the document that shows it as I would like you to turn it in to me (double-spaced). You'll see it is just about three quarters of a page.



Nagin, Carl and the National Writing Project (2006). “Improving Student Writing: Challenges and Expectations” in //Because Writing Matters: Improving Student Writing in Our Schools// (2006)//.//San Fancisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers.

In this the first chapter of Nagin’s text, he argues that writing is a complex task requiring careful, complex instruction in order to reach any sort of standard set for student writers. To make his point, Nagin considers writing, the skill, and writing instruction through a variety of lenses: 1) how educators see the challenges of writing; 2) how educators need to be trained to and supported in the teaching of writing; and 3) how the public values writing (very highly). Nagin brings in diverse research from leading scholars in the field of Rhetoric and Composition as well as Education to support the essential idea that good writing requires students have the opportunity to write in diverse genre, with individualized attention to skill level, evaluated in authentic ways; and that teachers need training in the above areas in order to teach them. This article brings together key theories and theorists (no surprise since the book is co-authored by the National Writing Project) and offers a cogent and realistic view of just how hard it is to teach writing skills—as well as how hard it is to help teachers be ready to do it. If find this article useful because it validates my own thinking on writing and helps me to understand the level of training I want to be a part of in order to be the best teacher I can be.