Touchstones are projects that illustrate your comprehension of the course material, help you refine skills, and demonstrate application of knowledge. You can
work on a Touchstone anytime, but you can't submit it until you have completed the unit’s Challenges. Once you've submitted a Touchstone, it will be graded
and counted toward your final course score.
Touchstone 2.2: Create an Annotated Bibliography
ASSIGNMENT: Using your research question, working thesis, and outline from Touchstone 1.2, create an annotated bibliography that provides a synopsis
of your sources and an explanation of how you will use them.
As this assignment builds on Touchstone 1.2: Write a Research Question, Thesis, and Outline, that Touchstone, as well as Touchstone 2.1, must be
graded before you can submit your annotated bibliography.
Sample Touchstone 2.2
In order to foster learning and growth, all essays you submit must be newly written specifically for this course. Any recycled work will be sent back with a
0, and you will be given one attempt to redo the Touchstone.
A. Assignment Guidelines
DIRECTIONS: Refer to the list below throughout the writing process. Do not submit your Touchstone until it meets these guidelines.
1. Annotated Bibliography
Make sure to:
❒ Alphabetize the entries, according to APA Style.
❒ Include the required bibliographic information in APA format for each entry.
❒ Include 5-6 sentences for each entry that provide a short summary of the source (with paragraph or paragraph-numbered citations) and how you plan
to use it to support your argument.
❒ Include at least seven entries in your annotated bibliography, all of which must be credible and current (within the last 10 years) academic sources. (Use
Google Scholar if you do not have access to an academic search database through your institution).
Not Submitted Submitted Scored
You can submit this Touchstone when the previous Touchstone has beenscored. SUBMIT TOUCHSTONE
It takes 5-7 business days for a Touchstone to be graded once it's been submitted.
UNIT 2 — TOUCHSTONE 2.2: Create an Annotated BibliographySCORE
-/50
❒ Choose your own sources, but use no more than three websites (there is no limit on the number of online scholarly journals used).
❒ Thoroughly check the formatting requirements for the different source types.
❒ After each relevant entry indicate the source type in parentheses (book, peer-reviewed journal, newspaper/magazine, and credible website) by
including the source type in parentheses after the relevant entry.
2. Reflection
❒ Have you displayed a clear understanding of the research activities?
❒ Have you answered all reflection questions thoughtfully and included insights, observations, and/or examples in all responses?
❒ Are your answers included on a separate page below the main assignment?
B. Reflection Questions
DIRECTIONS: Below your assignment, include answers to all of the following reflection questions.
. Accurately recording bibliographic information is essential and saves you time, as you can transfer this information to the References page of your
drafted essay. Each source entry should include a brief summary of the source as well as 3-4 sentences describing how you intend to use that source
to build or support your argument. Discuss how your annotated bibliography meets these criteria. (2-3 sentences)
. Which strategies were most helpful for you when searching for credible sources? (2-3 sentences)
. What difficulties did you face while searching for credible sources? How did you overcome these difficulties? (2-3 sentences)
C. Rubric
Advanced (100%) Proficient (85%) Acceptable (75%) Needs Improvement(50%)
Non-Performance(0%)
AnnotatedBibliography (20points)
Fulfill all annotatedbibliographyrequirements and includeusable notes on sources.
Meets all source criteria,thoroughly and effectivelysummarizes the core ideasfor all sources, andeffectively explains howeach source will be used tosupport the argument.
Meets all source criteria,effectively summarizes thecore ideas for all sources,and effectively explainshow each source will beused to support theargument.
Meets the majority of sourcecriteria, summarizes the coreideas effectively for the majorityof the sources (one or twosource summaries may lackdetail), and explains how themajority of the sources will beused to support the argument(for one or two sources, theexplanation of support isunclear).
Meets some source criteria,summarizes the core ideas forsome sources (many summariesare absent or lacking in detail),and explains how some of thesources will be used to supportthe argument (for many of thesources, the explanation ofsupport is unclear or absent).
Meets few or none of thesource criteria, summarizesfew or none of the sources(or the summaries are alllacking in detail), and doesnot explain the connectionto the argument.
Quality of Sources (15points)
Choose reputable,academically appropriateresearch sources.
All sources are credible,relevant, and properlyformatted as exemplified inthe course instructions.
Majority of sources arecredible, relevant, andproperly formatted asexemplified in the courseinstructions.
Some sources are credible,relevant, and properly formattedas exemplified in the courseinstructions.
Majority of sources are notcredible, relevant, or properlyformatted as exemplified in thecourse instructions.
Sources do not adhere tothe quality standards taughtin this course, or there areminimal sources present.
Advanced (100%) Proficient (85%) Acceptable (75%) Needs Improvement(50%)
Non-Performance(0%)
Style (5 points)
Establish a consistent,informative tone andmake thoughtful stylisticchoices.
Demonstrates thoughtfuland effective word choices,avoids redundancy andimprecise language, anduses a wide variety ofsentence structures.
Demonstrates effectiveword choices, primarilyavoids redundancy andimprecise language, anduses a variety of sentencestructures.
Demonstrates generallyeffective style choices, but mayinclude occasionalredundancies, impreciselanguage, poor word choice,and/or repetitive sentencestructures.
Frequently includes poor wordchoices, redundancies,imprecise language, and/orrepetitive sentence structures.
Consistently demonstratespoor word choices,redundancies, impreciselanguage, and/or repetitivesentence structures.
Conventions (5 points)
Follow conventions forstandard written English.
There are only a few, if any,negligible errors in grammar,punctuation, spelling,capitalization, formatting,and usage.
There are occasional minorerrors in grammar,punctuation, spelling,capitalization, formatting,and usage.
There are some significanterrors in grammar, punctuation,spelling, capitalization,formatting, and usage.
There are frequent significanterrors in grammar, punctuation,spelling, capitalization,formatting, and usage.
There are consistentsignificant errors in grammar,punctuation, spelling,capitalization, formatting,and usage.
Reflection (5 points)
Answer reflectionquestions thoroughly andthoughtfully.
Demonstrates thoughtfulreflection; consistentlyincludes insights,observations, and/orexamples in all responses,following or exceedingresponse length guidelines.
Demonstrates thoughtfulreflection; includes multipleinsights, observations,and/or examples, followingresponse length guidelines.
Primarily demonstratesthoughtful reflection, but someresponses are lacking in detailor insight; primarily followsresponse length guidelines.
Shows limited reflection; themajority of responses arelacking in detail or insight, withsome questions leftunanswered or falling short ofresponse length guidelines.
No reflection responses arepresent.
D. Requirements
The following requirements must be met for your submission to be graded:
• Double-space the bibliography entries and use one-inch margins.
• Use a readable 12-point font.
• All writing must be appropriate for an academic context.
• Composition must be original and written for this assignment.
• Plagiarism of any kind is strictly prohibited.
• Submission must include your name, the name of the course, the date, and the title of your composition.
• Submission must include your reflection questions.
• Include all of the assignment components in a single file.
• Acceptable file formats include .doc and .docx.
• Your research question, thesis, and outline must be graded before your annotated bibliography will be accepted.
E. Additional Resources
The following resources will be helpful to you as you work on this assignment:
. Purdue Online Writing Lab's APA Formatting and Style Guide
a. This site includes a comprehensive overview of APA style, as well as individual pages with guidelines for specific citation types.
. Frequently Asked Questions About APA Style
a. This page on the official APA website addresses common questions related to APA formatting. The "References," "Punctuation," and "Grammar and
Writing Style" sections will be the most useful to your work in this course.
. APA Style: Quick Answers—References
a. This page on the official APA Style website provides numerous examples of reference list formatting for various source types.About Contact Us Privacy Policy Terms of Use
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