What linguistic choices will you make in your annotated bibliography? How formal or informal should your language be?

Part 1: The Annotated Bibliography Introduction provides background information about your research topic, research question, and research process. An effective introduction will help your reader understand what you’ve been researching this semester, how you’ve been conducting research, and how you plan to use the sources you’ve found in your final research paper. Please note that the Critical Introduction is not the same document as your research plan (Writing Project 1), and it is not the introduction to your research paper.
Your annotated bibliography introduction should address the following questions:

What topic have you been researching this semester? Why is this topic significant?
What is your research question?
How did you investigate your research question? What search strategies did you use to locate sources (e.g. where did you look, what keywords did you use, what successes or challenges did you have?)
What types of sources did you find?
Based on your research, what is your tentative thesis, claim, or position?

How do you plan to use the sources you’ve found to support your tentative claim (e.g. what sources will you use to provide background information, to support your claim, to refute your claim, etc.)?
What additional materials do you think you will need for your argumentative research paper?
Part 2: The Source Annotations provides a list of the sources you’ve found. You must include at least five sources for this assignment, and at least three of the sources must be scholarly. Each entry should include a complete MLA or APA citation followed by a critical annotation (100-200 words). The annotation should summarize the source and evaluate the source based on its currency, authority, and relevance to your research project.
Your source annotations should address the following questions:
What is the complete MLA or APA citation for the source?
What is the source (e.g. is it for a scholarly or public audience, is it a book, journal article, blog post, website, video, etc.)?

Who created the source (e.g. who is the author, publisher, or organization)? How does the creator information impact this source’s appropriateness for your own research project?
What is the purpose of the source (e.g. is the purpose to inform, to persuade, to entertain, to sell, etc.)?
How would you summarize this source for someone who is not familiar with it?
How current is the source (e.g. when was it published, does the source reflect the most current understanding of the topic)? How does the currency impact this source’s appropriateness for your own research project?
How does the source relate to your own research project and your tentative claim?
Consider the following questions as you write your annotated bibliography:
Author: How do you wish to represent yourself in your annotated bibliography, and how will you achieve that representation?

Purpose: Given that your purpose is to articulate the evolution of your research project and to evaluate the sources given your research question, how will you achieve this purpose in your annotated bibliography?
Audience: Given that your audience is your ENG 102 instructor, how will this audience inform the content, structure, or language of your annotated bibliography?
Genre: Given that your genre is an annotated bibliography, what are the genre conventions (structure, design, formatting, language usage, and mechanics) that you need to apply?
Content: What information will you include in your annotated bibliography about your topic and your research strategies? How much information will you need to include in the annotated bibliography introduction and the source annotations, and in what order will you present the information?
Structure: How will you structure your annotated bibliography? What structure will help your audience easily understand your topic and its significance?
Language: What linguistic choices will you make in your annotated bibliography? How formal or informal should your language be? How can you revise and edit your language to meet your rhetorical purpose in the genre?
Criteria
Your annotated bibliography will be evaluated according to the following criteria:
Rhetorical choices- Does the annotated bibliography effectively fulfill its purpose and appeal to the audience?
Content choices- Does the annotated bibliography summarize your research process, explain your research strategies, and offer a tentative claim? Do your source annotations demonstrate that you understand the sources and how they are relevant to your tentative claim?
Genre choices- Does the annotated bibliography effectively apply genre conventions?
Structural choices- Does the annotated bibliography introduction follow a logical arrangement? Are the source annotations arranged in alphabetical order?
Linguistic choices- Does the annotated bibliography use effective language for the genre and rhetorical situation?