Mini-Research Assignment

Practice Research Assignment: Annotated Bibliography and Thesis
Due Date: Block Day 4/15

-Banksy Wall Art

1.) Constructing a Driving Question

• In groups of 3-5 people, you have 5 minutes to come up with as many questions as you can about racism and/or justice.  (Note: do not answer any of them).
• After the 5 minutes, pick your best question.
• The criteria for strong driving questions are:
• focused (not broad)
• challenging (not factual)
• grounded (not speculative)
• Researchable (an answer, even if a complex one, can be found)
• Determine if the question you came up with meets the criteria as well as the question we will explore for this assignment:

Driving Question: How has a specific event, person, or publication from the 20th century impacted racial segregation in the United States?

2.) Researching

• When you do research, you are seeking to pay close attention to your sources, ask good questions, and ultimately answer your driving question. However, this may mean admitting that your initial question was insufficient, that the sources do not give you the kind of answer you had hoped, or that a totally new realm of thinking is required. So, be humble and open-minded, and be ready to revise your views or assumptions.
• Later, we will learn how to find and evaluate good sources. For this assignment, you will be provided with quality sources.
• You must have:
• One primary source (also called original source or evidence. It could be an artifact, a document, a recording, or other source of information that was created at the time and place, or by the person, under study)  
• You must choose this primary source from the “Jim Crow and Segregation Primary Source Teacher’s Guide," which you can find here.
• Select two secondary sources (a secondary source is any source about an event, period, or issue in history that was produced after that event, period or issue has passed). You may find secondary sources from the same "Jim Crow" document, and find more web sources here: Other Secondary Web Sources
• As you research, keep track of all sources in a list that will eventually become your bibliography or works cited page. It can also be beneficial to use flashcards to keep track of your sources (with author, website, and publisher information).

*CLICK HERE TO FIND THE DOCUMENTS YOU NEED IN OUR GOOGLE DRIVE FOLDER

3.) Writing An Annotated Bibliography

Compile an annotated bibliography of the three sources (one primary and two secondary) that would effectively answer the driving question.  

Document must be formatted according to MLA Format.

• Heading, Header, Title
• 12 point, Times New Roman Font
• Double spaced, 1 inch margins
• Directions for formatting in the Pages App.

Create a citation entry for each of your sources:

• Cite the source in MLA Format for a Works Cited entry:
• Here's what the entry for a source should look like:

For a page on a website:

Author’s Last, First name.  “Article Name in Quotation Marks.”  Name of Website in Italics.
Publisher of the Website, Date of Publication.  Web.  Date You Accessed the Website.

• For other kinds of sources, citation rules are posted on the Purdue OWL.

For EACH source, you must complete two paragraphs of annotation (notes formatted in paragraphs under each entry).

• Paragraph 1: Summary of your source (what does your source say)
• English 1: Must be at least 5 sentences long
• Honors: Must be at least 8 sentences long
• Paragraph 2: Evaluation of your source (how does the source relate to your topic, and how well does it do so)
• English 1: Must be at least 5 sentences long
• Honors: Must be at least 8 sentences long

Notes: Example Annotations; Example Annotated Bibliography

4) Thesis Statement:

• Turn the driving question into a thesis statement that is supportable by the primary and secondary sources. Place this at the bottom of your annotated Bibliography.

*Note: that is it! We are not writing a full essay!