Now that you’ve started some initial research, it is time to engage some of the important ideas and debates surrounding your research question.
Part 1: Find five sources that connect to your research question. Take notes as you read. Become familiar with each author’s point of view. What insight do they provide? What ideas are discussed in the texts that you could apply to your own research? What is the rhetorical situation of each source?
Part 2: Once you have read over each article thoroughly, compose an entry for each text in an annotated bibliography. This bibliography contains not only an accurate citation for your sources, but your own typed notes on the relevant content and ideas of each text. Your annotations should sum up key ideas in your own words, and describe the author’s positions as they relate to your topic. Furthermore, use your annotations to engage your texts as you explain them – show how the ideas of the texts relate, agree/disagree, and how each one contributes something distinct to your own research ideas.