WRITING NATURE:
DISCOURSES OF ECOLOGY
A working, annotated bibliography in correct form, listing at least 15 sources pertinent to your research project. There are two basic requirements for kinds and distribution of sources in this research paper:
1) The working bibliography calls for 15 sources; in your final paper, plan on using a minimum of 12 sources.
2) Four or 5 of your sources should be other than print secondary sources. (Secondary sources include books, magazine/journal articles, and online sources that you are citing for text alone.) In other words, at least 1/3 of your sources should include alternatives in the form of primary sources (interviews and/or surveys of your own design that you plan to conduct), archival sources, media sources (including video or audio clips, radio interviews, etc.), and visual/representational sources (photographs, maps, charts, for example).
Aim for variety in your choice of sources, which may include books, articles, reviews, government documents, interviews, documentary films, etc. Please consider carefully the possibility of including primary sources (interviews, for example) in your working bibliography, although some topics will lend themselves to primary research more than others and primary sources should probably not account for more than one-third of the total number of sources listed. If you anticipate an unusual distribution of sources, because of the nature of your project, please speak with me.
(See below for more details about kinds of sources that you might consider for your bibliography.)
In class on Thursday, Februray 6.
(Keep in mind that the outline for the research paper in due on Thursday, Feb. 27 and the rough draft on Tuesday, March 4.)
WHAT IS A WORKING BIBLIOGRAPHY?
A working bibliography is just that: a list of particular bibliographic possibilities. It should reflect the results of your initial though careful scanning of primary and secondary material you think you might end up using in your research paper. Later, as you investigate these sources more closely, you may well decide that, for one reason or another, not all of them will be of ultimate use to you, and so you will drop some from your bibliography; you will also no doubt add new sources as you come upon them in the course of your research.
Annotations consist of brief (a couple of sentences) but specific descriptions of the content and relevance of your possible sources and should directly follow each bibliographic entry. Annotations can generally be based on a quick scanning of source materials (for example, books' tables of contents or opening and closing paragraphs of articles) or from the abstracts that are often provided in reference sources themselves (like Socrates, indexes to periodical literature, or published bibliographies).
Your working annotated bibliography must be typed. Double-space between entries; the entries themselves may be either single-spaced or double-spaced.
Correct and complete bibliographic form is IMPORTANT. Consider which documentation style is most appropriate for your topic as well as for your audience.
MLA format is the most widely used documentation style for the humanities, although Chicago style is frequently used in history.
APA is the most common documentation style in the social sciences.
CBE style is often used in papers and articles in the hard sciences that are based on original research and is generally reserved for highly specialized readers in the sciences.
Have a good reason for selecting the documentation (MLA, Chicago, APA, or CBE) style that you do for your bibliography, and having chosen it be consistent. I recommend, unless you have a clear-cur reason for preferring Chicago, APA or CBE documentation style, that you use MLA (Modern Language Association) documentation: it is simple, straight-forward, and is widely accepted in a broad range of academic writing.
Refer to the Appendix of Writing Nature for MLA format, and to Hacker's A Pocket Style Manual for MLA, Chicago, and APA formats. See Online! for correct form in listing online sources in whichever documentation style you use. See also the Student Resources page of our class web site to access links to good documentation guidelines online.
VARIETIES OF SOURCES TO CONSIDER FOR YOUR WORKING ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
In this project, I want to encourage you to think beyond the usual seconday sources that most students involved early in their academic careers restrict themselves to in research. There are so many research possibilities, especially at an institution as resource-rich as Stanford. Consider consulting
€ Secondary sources in Green Library and the many specialized libraries on campus (for example, Lane Medical Library and the Law School Library or the Biology and Engineering Libraries, just to name a few). You'll be amazed at just how many libraries are included with the Stanford Library system. Make sure to check out the special Stanford Libraries Guide for PWR students.
€ Remember that Stanford's libraries, as phenomenal as they are, aren't the only game in town. In some cases, local city or county libraries might provide better sources, particularly related to community issues, than our campus libraries provide. (Here are links to the Palo Alto Public Library and the San Francisco Public Library.)
€ Consider undertaking archival research. The collections of the Hoover Institution Library and Archives, for example, provides an absolutely unique resource for students doing research in the area of war, revolution, and peace, including mass political movements of the 20th century; Special Collections in Green Library offer the same sort of opportunities, especially for those students who are researching aspects of life and history within the Stanford community. Or consider the possibility of doing archival research in the community -- for example, checking out documents and other resources that various environmental organization in the area have collected.
€ Primary sources in the form of interviews and/or surveys of your own design. Depending upon your topic and your objectives, you may want to interview an academic or research expert in the area of your topic; a community member whose expertise distinguishes him or her in other ways; or individuals who represent a typical range of experience or whose individual experience, thoughts, or attitudes you want to explore in depth. You may want to survey a range of individuals within specific communities within or outside the university in order to investigate attitudes and trends related to your topic.
€ Media (and multimedia) will provide variety in information and perspective. Beyond print on the page, consider doing research on the internet (but use your critical intelligence in selecting online sources. Investigate documentary films and radio productions related to your topic. Consider using visual images as a way of exploring, illustrating, and thinking about your topic.