ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

An annotated bibliography is an organized list of sources. It differs from a straightforward bibliography in that a paragraph-length annotation follows each reference. The Annotated Bibliography is part of your Research Paper.  You should provide annotations for the sources that will then be used in the Research Paper.  Sources should be directly related to the Research Paper’s topic.  Annotations should be a brief paragraph (about 100 words) long.

PART 1

• At least 5 Primary Sources (either online or in print).  For primary sources, you should be looking for documents which were originally written during the time period you are trying to study. While images and archaeological remains certainly do qualify as primary sources which can be used by scholars to reconstruct the past, they are problematic for an assignment like this. Written documents from the past should be your focus!

For each of the Primary Sources in Part 1 your annotation should include:

• Bibliographic information according to Chicago style.
• The name and background of the author, if known.
• The date the document was originally written, if known.
• The author’s purpose in writing the document and its historical context.
• Any bias displayed by the author.
• The significance of the document (ie, how are its contents important to an understanding of the topic?)

PART 2

• At least 5 Secondary Scholarly Sources, including:
• At least 1 Scholarly Journal Article
• At least 1 Scholarly Monograph (A book length scholarly study by one author)
• For the other 3 secondary sources, you should use high quality scholarly sources, and avoid using the textbook, encyclopedia articles, or anonymously authored websites.

For each of the Secondary Sources in Part 2 your annotation should include:

• Bibliographic information according to Chicago style.
• The name and scholarly background of the author (education, publications, university appointments, etc.)
• The author’s main argument (note, this is not the same thing as a simple description of the subject matter– what is the author trying to say about this subject?).
• The specific types of evidence used to support the author’s main argument (are they primary sources? Scholarly secondary works?)
• How successful/convincing is the author’s argument?

The time period that the sources need to relate to is The rise of Islam in 7th century Arabia.