SOAN 453: Senior Seminar
Spring 2000 T 3:00-5:30, Alumni 432
Professor Thomas D. Hall
A. Lindsay O'Connor Professor of American Institutions
417 Alumni Hall, x7545, email:thall; web: people.colgate.edu/thall
Last Updated: 1-18-00
OFFICE HOURS:    Tu 6-7; Th 3-5, & by appointment
Thesis Annotated Bibliography

This is a part of your Thesis Proposal.  It should include at least 10 [10] different items, beyond course materials.  That is, even if you are using one or more of the sources we have used in class, they do not count as part of the ten. They can be electronic sources as well as print sources.  The items must be listed in alphabetical order, and in correct format.  See Formats and Bibliographies for Papers & Theses.

The annotation is a description of at least one sentence up to one paragraph of why that particular item is important to your thesis.  Even for long items like a book, you can tell what and why it is useful from the introduction.  For articles the abstract or opening and closing paragraphs often will give you this information.

There are several reasons for doing an annotated bibliography:

• it is a list of work to be done, with a justification of why it is to be done;
• it is an early check that you understand the proper formatting of references;
• it gets you started;
• the list and the annotation often help me to help you when you are stuck;
• if you have tremendous difficulty finding sources, that is a clue that you have picked an impractical topic, and should develop another one;
• it helps you focus your reading and discussions, both in class and on your on.

As with the body of the proposal, this is a step along the way to a good thesis, it is not an end in itself.  The more you can get done at this stage the easier it will be later.  A solid start here often leads to a good thesis.

Send comments or questions to thall@mail.colgate.edu