The Culture of Journalism Values Ethics and Democracy
The annotated bibliography assignment includes the extended thesis, an annotated bibliography with a minimum of five peer-reviewed sources, and copies of the front page and first full page of text for all sources. Students are expected to edit and polish their own assignment before submitting it. The complete assignment is due on the date indicated in the syllabus; should be the best, professional-quality work the student can achieve; and is not accepted after the assigned due date without the instructor’s prior approval. You may choose any topic concerning the mass media that was or will be covered in this course (see the syllabus schedule) and are welcome to look at reference resources (such as in the KML collection) for ideas. Whatever topic you choose needs to be focused, with a specific thesis that adopts a particular position that could be adequately supported in a 5-7 page academic research paper. Once you have chosen a topic, make certain you have access to plenty of material on the topic. Scan an index or two (such as the Index to Journals in Communication Studies) and the ComAbstracts and Communications and Mass Media Complete databases to find out how much material is available. Begin this process early in the semester. You probably will need to use interlibrary loan from other libraries. You are responsible for beginning this process early enough and doing sufficient reading and searching to ensure that you can complete a thoroughly researched annotated bibliography. You should use scholarly rather than popular articles for this assignment. Scholarly books also are acceptable, but not textbooks, which are “secondary sources” that generally summarize the scholarly work that appears in other places. Textbooks, including the one for this course, are a good way to settle on a topic, begin to narrow it, find search terms, and do background reading so you have sufficient understanding to find and use the solid “primary sources” you need for this annotated bibliography. One way to distinguish scholarly journals, such as Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, from the popular press is the “peer review process.” Scholarly books generally pursue one specialized topic in depth and often are published by a university press. To demonstrate that you have secured a complete copy of the full text of the articles, you must turn in a copy of the first page (with the title included) and first full page of text for each of the five or more sources you use in the annotated bibliography. After you have thoroughly read each article, you can create the annotated bibliography. The annotated bibliography must follow APA style. Additional information on the form and format of the extended thesis, citations, and abstracts/annotations will be provided. Do not copy a database abstract or the abstract at the top of the article. Read each article carefully and write your own abstract. Copying work that is not your own writing is plagiarism, a form of academic dishonesty with severe consequences. (See the statements on Academic Integrity in this syllabus and in the University of Indianapolis Student Handbook.) Your abstract should be a comprehensive summary of the article’s contents and allow the reader quickly to survey what the article is about and by inference understand the article’s connection to the thesis. Detailed information for researching and writing the annotated bibliography with extended thesis will be provided in course documents and the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, which is required for this course. You need a minimum of five peer-reviewed, cited sources, but most students will want to include more than fiveHow would you go about writing the annotated bibliography in APA style