Annotated Bibliography – Due Feb. 23

Research/Writing Assignment (this will be averaged with your final project: worth a combined 35% of your final grade) Due Feb. 23:

**Opening note: If you wait until the last minute to work on this assignment, you may be in trouble. If you don’t understand this project … ask well in advance.

After this assignment is complete, you should email me the final draft in a word doc, Google doc, or PDF. It is your responsibility to make sure this assignment is formatted correctly.

You are to create an annotated bibliography on a film topic of interest to you. This annotated bibliography should include at least four-six possible sources (total). Two-three of those sources (minimum) should come from the Dover Library resource databases. Sources can come from scholarly and peer reviewed material, from a journal article, or a recognized and legitimate trade publication, magazine article or a published book from the Dover Library resources. You can also use “making of” videos or interviews as source materials. Video essay materials are fine, but no movie reviews from other critics are allowed as resources; the evaluation of any films used for the semester project should come from your personal applied techniques, and not from others.

You can select any film-related topic, but you may find it a benefit to select something that you could implement within your final project.

Your goal here is to begin (and understand) in-depth research on your topic by reading and/or engaging in materials that will provide support, expertise and scholarly value for a project. Before you take the following steps, you should thoroughly explore the research. This will help you begin to weed out material that may not be relevant to you. TIP: If you’re going to take the time to conduct an annotated bibliography (or even a literature review), you should not waste time writing down sources that you know will not provide benefit. Remember … this is not a project for standard Google searches.

Think about all the components of filmmaking we’ve covered so far that could be applied to your project (and research): Original source materials, screenplay, cinematography, sound design, score, directing and acting. Are there references available that can provide support on any of these topics that are directly related to the semester project? If so, dive into those as well.

What is an annotated bibliography?

An annotated bibliography is a list of resources and references (articles, books, documents, films, audio, etc.) followed by a brief paragraph (75-150 words) providing a descriptive evaluation of the source.

You will find this to be a valuable tool in organizing your notes and resources for your semester project. An annotated bibliography allows you to bring all of your resources into one location, and provides you with a quick glimpse of what is contained within each source. This will be most helpful as you begin to formalize your thoughts and structure for your semester project. It will also provide you with a focused approach to themes, ideas and topics within each source offering supportive and alternate ideas of your project.

The first thing you’ll need to do is find and make records of the approved sources (as well as the new ones you’ve discovered). Then, review and examine the references, and make notes of those you feel will provide the most relevance or support to your project.

You should cite the source in the approved APA format, and each should be organized in alphabetical order by the author. You will ultimately use this format citation structure in the APA references page(s) for the final draft of your semester project. Additionally you must provide a link (a permalink if possible) for each source (if pulled from online).
You should follow each source with a brief description (or annotation) that provides a summary of the source (this should be three-five sentences). This annotation should be in your own words and should not be copied directly from the abstract; that is plagiarism. You want to summarize the central theme and scope of each reference. You may want to address the following within the annotation (these are just ideas): A. Is the author an expert or authority in the field? B. Compare and contrast this with other references you’ve explored. C. Who is the intended audience for this particular reference? D. Explain how this particular reference adds impact to your research. Below you will find an example of a film-related annotated bibliography with a list of 10 references.

Alfred Hitchcock Annotated Bibliography Sample Alfred Hitchcock Annotated Bibliography Sample