SOAN 453B: SENIOR SEMINAR:
 Senior Seminar:  Issues in Contemporary Sociology:
 Social Problems in Global-Historical Perspective
 WED 2:45-5:15 AL 432
 Colgate University
 Fall 2004 Professor Thomas Hall
 Office:  408 Alumni, x7083, email:  tdhall@mail.colgate.edu
 OFFICE HOURS:  Tu 2:45-4; W 1:30-2:30 & 5:20-6, Th 12-1, & by appt
Annotated Bibliography
Due by Wednesday, September 22 at start of seminar -- or sooner!
Last Updated 1-9-04

This is the second part of your Thesis Proposal.  It should include at least ten [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.. These should all be PRINT sources, that is, NOT internet sources.  NOTE:  items that were originally in print, like journal articles, but are now electronic, such as those on JSTOR count as print items.  You MAY use internet sources in your thesis, but NOT in this bibliographic exercise.

The items must be listed in alphabetical order, and in correct format.  See Formats and Bibliographies for Papers & Theses.  Feel free to add more, and also you can among the annotations, indicate that you would like to find more information on XYZ, but have not been able to so far -- I may be able to suggest some things for you.

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 own thesis.

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 tdhall@mail.colgate.edu
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