An annotated bibliography begins with a list of citations of books, articles, websites, letters, and other documents that comprise a body of research on a given topic. Each citation is followed by a brief paragraph (the annotation) in which the source is both described in terms of its content and evaluated in terms of its potential usefulness. The purpose of the annotation is to report a concise, yet authoritative judgment concerning the relevance, logical accuracy, and quality of each source in the list. This can be done either in general terms or in reference to a particular topic. You will be doing the latter, as your task is to create an annotated bibliography of at least 8 potential sources of information (try, if you can not to use all articles or all books, so that you can get some practice using a variety of sources. Remember, if you use an electronically obtained version of an article that originally appeared in a paper printing, you need to cite it like any other article, but note that you acquired the text which you're evaluating online. Consult your MLA or APA handbook -- or a detailed online citation guide like http://www.english.uiuc.edu/cws/wworkshop/bibliography.htm for guidelines on how to do this properly) regarding the "discursive problem" you formulated for assignment #2.

Creating an annotated bibliography requires a variety of intellectual skills: concise exposition, succinct analysis, and informed library research. First, locate and record citations for books, essays in collections, articles in periodicals, websites, or other documents that may contain useful information and ideas on your topic. Briefly examine and review the actual items. Then choose those works that provide a variety of perspectives on your topic.

Cite the book, article, or document using the appropriate (MLA or APA) style. Then write a concise annotation that summarizes the central theme and scope of the book or article. Include one or more sentences that (a) evaluate the authority or background of the author, (b) comment on the intended audience, (c) compare or contrast this work with another you have cited, or (d) explain how this work either illuminates your bibliography topic or ultimately will not be relevant. NOTE: You can gain a lot out of understanding why a source that seems "on topic" may still not provide a lot of logical help for YOUR particular take on the subject. For example, an article in Reader's Digest may touch upon the topic you're writing on, but the intellectual depth with which the piece is written may not shed a lot of additional light on what you're doing. Alternately, an author may be using a particular theoretical perspective so exhaustively to defend their analysis that it colors the argument so heavily as to make it irrelevant, or tangential at best, to the points you're trying to defend.

CRITICALLY APPRAISING THE BOOK, ARTICLE, OR DOCUMENT

For guidance in critically appraising and analyzing the sources for your bibliography, you may wish to consult the following resource, available online: http://www.library.cornell.edu/okuref/research/skill26.htm. I also have a book I am willing to loan out entitled On Compiling an Annotated Bibliography by James L. Harner (New York: Modern Language Association, 2000) that I will be glad to loan on for this assignment (additional copies are available for reference at the Owen D. Young Library at SLU)..

SAMPLE ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY ENTRY FOR A BOOK

Dalgård, Per. The Function of the Grotesque in Vasilij Aksenov. Aarhus, Denmark: Arkona, 1982.

Spans the works between Stal'naya ptitsa and Ozhog, with a fairly good (if somewhat outdated by now) bibliography at the rear. Excellent backgrounding on use of grotesque themes as a part of Russian tradition (including Gogol). Heavy reliance on the theories of Yuri Lotman and Mikhail Bakhtin for critical acumen. Dalgård has published several works, both book-length and article-length on Aksenov and is a chaired professor of a Russian department in Sweden. Very much written for literary specialists with extensive familiarity with contemporary Russian fiction as well as a wide range of schools of Russian/Soviet theory. Examines "The Steel Bird," Surplussed Barrelware, Our Golden Ironburg, The Burn, and Writer In Search of a Genre, with extensive and highly organized analysis of each. Lots of good analysis of the language and Aksenov's novelty in this regard.

Ryan-Hayes, Karen L. "Iskander's Transparent Allegory: Rabbits and Boa-Constrictors" in Contemporary Russian Satire: A Genre Study. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1995. 11-57.

Ryan-Hayes, a tenured professor of Russian at the University of Virginia, deals with Rabbits and Boa-Constrictors as a modern allegorical text, demonstrating the ways in which Iskander uses the very traditional (and usually religious) form of allegory (which she argues is inherently satirical, although not inherently comic) and applies it towards modern society. Like with Voinovich, she somewhat questionably states that these satires are not necessarily specific to the Soviet/Stalinist system, but rather speak to a larger meaning of any totalitarian dictatorship. While this may or may not be true, it seems like hair-splitting, since it can be argued that Stalin and Solzhenitsyn are very recognizable models in Iskander and Voinovich's works, respectively. On the whole, though, this treatment of Iskander's book unravels a lot of the mystery of who is represented by the allegorical animals of the book. Assumes a great deal of familiarity with the cultural and political context of the novels she discusses. No comparison with Zinoviev or Aksyonov, though, whose characters seem very much to be named within an allegorical tradition. A question arises as to whether or not there is as strong a correlation between suggestive parodic naming and explicit allegorical identification as Ryan-Hayes implies. Good text, although not much overarching critique.