Week 4- Level 1 Challenge Option: Out of the Tower

1. Choose a piece of legislation or a specific policy issue:

• First, choose an area of state or federal public policy that interests you. You might choose, but are certainly not limited to: immigration, gun control; K-12 Education; higher education; sex education; abortion; health care; food aid and welfare programs; subsidies in the agricultural sector; reproductive rights and/or abortion; NASA funding; carbon emissions and global warming.
• Do some preliminary Internet research to figure out where these issues appear in your state’s legislation or proposed legislation or in federal legislation. Perhaps Congress will be voting on some of these issues soon, or there has been or will be a Supreme Court case on the issue of your interest.

Write the Annotated Bibliography: An annotated bibliography is a document in which a researcher provides a list of scholarly resources s/he has reviewed. Each resource is accompanied by a 75-150 word summary that discusses the background of the author/context, the content of each article, and the ways in which the article has helped the author think about his or her policy question.

As you write your annotations ensure that each:

• Summarizes the context and background of the authors. What sort of researcher are they? Where do they work and for whom?
  
• Summarizes the source’s main argument, methods, and conclusions. You might choose a few details of particular importance to you as a researcher.
  
• Explains the source’s usefulness and relevance to your general policy question.
  

Here is an example citation and annotation in APA format:

Bowly, G. (2006).  “The High Priestess of Internet Friendship.” Financial Times

    Weekend Magazine. October 2006 Issue, 10-25.

This article is a feature story in the “Arts and Weekend” section of the Financial Times Weekend Magazine. Bowly, a research psychologist, draws information from interviews with psychologists and sociologists who study online social networks (OSN’s). Bowly explains the development of OSN’s, and explains the difficulties in making profits through commercial advertising. Bowly also shows how young people use OSN’s to maintain social relationships and to play with different identities through self-expression. However, Dannah Boyd, a researcher whom Bowly quotes extensively, defends OSNs as a place where young people can explore their identities and “negotiate this new world” (20). This article gives a mostly positive view of OSNs and would help our organization advocate OSNs as new space of “identity production.”

Annotated bibliography checklist:

• Annotations come after a 100-word (min.) paragraph discussing general focus and research findings.
  
• All citations are in MLA format.
  
• Citations are listed in alphabetical order
  
• Citations are followed by a 75-150 word annotation with context, summary, and evaluation components.
  

Write a Critical Preface to your Annotated Bibliography: Annotated bibliographies are normally accompanied by a critical preface in which the writer discusses the importance of the set of research s/he has done. In this 100 word preface, you will discuss the policy area you have chosen and make general, synthetic comments about what you have found in your research. What did the research support? Is this the position you would recommend to your employer or organization? What specific evidence supports this position?