Assignment:
Course Paper Thesis, Outline, & Annotated Bibliography Instructions
Instructions: Develop a thesis statement, outline, and annotated bibliography for your Course Paper based on the guidelines in the presentation. Submit the thesis statement, outline, and annotated bibliography in ONE Word document using the template below (including the cover page).
Assignment Goals: Plan your Course Paper by clearly stating your main point, structuring your supporting reasons and evidence, and evaluating your scholarly sources. Doing so will prepare you to draft your Course Paper, which must be submitted by the end of Module/Week 5 of GRST 501 to your GRST instructor and the Online Writing Center. Next, you must submit a final, improved revision of your Course Paper based on the feedback from these two sources. Planning out your paper will make the drafting step easier.
Specific Requirements: Your thesis statement may not refer to yourself, your paper, or your readers. Simply state the point that your paper will argue or demonstrate. Your outline must have an introduction that includes your thesis statement, two or more supporting main points with at least two pieces of evidence (statistics, data, or source quotes) for each of those points, and a conclusion that sums up the main supporting points and restates your thesis. Your annotated bibliography must include a citation, a summary, an analysis, and the relevance of at least four scholarly sources. Please scroll down and see the template below for more details and use it as the basis for this assignment submission.
*Note: You must submit your completed draft to your GRST instructor and to the Online Writing Center. You must show your GRST instructor that you have received a full OWC review of your paper. Then, you must make a final, improved revision of your paper to pass the course. You might be pressed for time, so remember that though feedback from the OWC normally takes 48-72 hours, during Week 6, feedback often takes one week. This means that once you successfully submit your paper for a full review, you will receive it back within one week. Feedback from your GRST instructor also takes about a week. Therefore, your completed draft is due at least by Module/Week 5. To pass, plan to submit your draft before or during Module/Week 5 of this course.
Title of the issue investigated:
Thesis Statement, Outline, & Annotated Bibliography
Your name here
Thesis Statement: Write your working thesis statement here. Follow the guidelines in the Module/Week 3 Presentation for how to write a good thesis statement and what to avoid in doing so.
Outline: Use or rearrange this structure for your outline and add to it or delete as necessary. Just be sure all its components are included, but you might choose to address opposing views under some or each of your supporting reasons instead-whatever would best persuade your readers. Every main point should have at least two supporting points or evidence (A & B) below it. Consult the presentation for more outlining guidelines.
I. Introduction
A. Attention-grabbing opening sentences that motivate your readers to continue
B. Brief background of issue or controversy
C. Thesis statement
II. First Supporting Reason or Argument (backing up your thesis)
A. Statistic, data, quote or paraphrase from source
B. Statistic, data, quote or paraphrase from source
III. Second Supporting Reason or Argument (backing up your thesis)
A. Statistic, data, quote or paraphrase from source
B. Statistic, data, quote or paraphrase from source
IV. Third Supporting Reason or Argument (backing up your thesis)
A. Statistic, data, quote or paraphrase from source
B. Statistic, data, quote or paraphrase from source
V. Opposing Viewpoints
A. Statistics, data, quotes or paraphrases from sources
B. Acknowledgement of strengths of opposing views
C. Analysis of weaknesses of opposing views
VI. Conclusion
A. Summarize main supporting points
B. Restate thesis in strong and unique way
Annotated Bibliography: As mentioned in the presentation, a good annotated bibliography should include the citations for each source (at least four) you plan to cite in your paper (all should be credible, scholarly sources), a 1 to 2 sentence summary of the source, a 1 to 2 sentence evaluation of the source (accuracy, recency, bias, reliability, etc.), and how the source is relevant to your paper (what point would it help support or opposing views does it reveal?). See pp. 3-4 of the Online Writing Center's annotated bibliography resource as an example of how to structure your bibliography, though be sure to use your discipline's own citation style. No abstract needed prior to your annotations.