For SA 4, you will develop and follow an original line of inquiry that culminates in Major Paper 2. It is time to familiarize yourself with source material on your topic (and possibly your pop culture text, if you can find sources on it), and begin formulating a productive research question.

Your Task

In this assignment, your task is to find 3-4 sources related to your MP 2 research topic (How Parks and Recreation shows Feminism) and write an annotated bibliography. You must include at least one formal academic source (journal article, book, peer-reviewed research) and one “less academic” source (newspaper or magazine article, etc.) Importantly, along the way, you will be able to start developing the line of inquiry you want to explore in MP 2 ( Feminism in the show Parks and Recreation). Your annotated bibliography should be 250-300 words per source, should be in MLA format, and should be written for a general academic audience.

For each source, use the following questions to guide your writing:

1) Very briefly, what is the overall argument or claim of the writer? Is he or she generally successful?

2) Who make up the intended audience of the writing?

3) How does the source contribute to existing scholarship on your topic?

4) How is this source useful to you? Posit the ways in which you might incorporate this source into your writing. For example, the source might provide evidence to support one of your mini-claims, might offer a counter-argument, or might simply inspire you to tweak your research question in a new direction.

Evaluation

Your bibliography will be evaluated based on the effective execution of the following outcomes:

1. The writing employs style, tone and conventions appropriate to the demands of an MLA bibliography (Outcome 1)

2. The writer is able to demonstrate the ability to write for the audience and context of the task (Outcome 1)

3. The writer has a clear understanding of the audience (Outcome 1)

4. The writing demonstrates an understanding of the course texts as necessary for the purpose at hand (Outcome 2)

5. Sources are used in strategic, focused ways (e.g. summarized, cited, applied, challenged, re-contextualized) to support the goals of writing (Outcome 2)

Outcome 1: Writing employs style, tone, and conventions of an annotated bibliography — the writer has a clear understanding of audience.

Outcome 2: The writing demonstrates an understanding of the source texts — sources are used in strategic, focused ways to support the goals of writing.