Annotations should include these four parts:

• Works Cited MLA Style Citation
• Summary
  • A brief original summary of what the work says or does that relates to the course theme.
• Assessment
  • An explanation of what you find compelling or of interest and value in the work
• Reflection
  • What role it plays in your project or your process of thinking about and shaping your project.

Tips and Tools from the Library:

• Many library resources have built in citation creation options, just make sure to review them! Look for a quotation mark,  a Cite button or at the bottom of the article webpage.
• Library databases also give you the option to email sources to yourself giving you both an access link or PDF copy along with a working citation.
• Abstracts are author provided summaries of their works, these can be great to help create short summaries, just remember to add the relevance, how the source fits your project.
• Librarians are available to help with citations or resource access both in person or by using the ASK a Librarian button.

The number of sources and annotation requirements will depend on which course you are enrolled in, see below for the details as presented in the Project Assignment.

Sources:

• Students in AFAM/ENGL 141N must draw on at least 5 sources that include at least 3 assigned and/or recommended course texts, at least 1 of which is a work of creative writing and at least one of which is within a text on reserve for our course in the library. At least 1 additional outside source is required.
• Students in ENGL 431 must draw on at least 10 sources that include at least 5 assigned and/or recommended texts, at least 1 of which is a work of creative writing, at least 1 of which is within a text on reserve for our course in the library, plus at least 3 outside sources. 

Commentary & Bibliography:

• Commentary for 141N students should be 300-500 words plus a bibliography of sources cited and consulted.
• Commentary for 431 students should be 7,00-1,000 words plus an annotated bibliography of sources cited and consulted. Annotations should include a brief original summary of what the work says or does that relates to our theme, an explanation of what you find compelling or of interest and value in the work, and what role it plays in your project or your process of thinking about and shaping your project.
• Members of group projects will write their own commentary and, in the case of 431 students, their bibliography annotations, then draw on these collaboratively to craft an additional briefer group commentary.