Choose five sources that you have gathered so far. Put the publication information together in proper MLA Works Cited format. After each citation, write a short annotation of the source. Include such information as whether or not you are likely to use the source for your final paper and why, how useful and accurate the information seems to be and why, the author’s credibility, the publication’s credibility, and any other information that explains why the source is or is not a good, valid source for your research question.
Included is a sample annotated bibliography. Notice it does not include information from ALL of the possible questions to analyze and write about. But each annotation shows significant reflection about the source and its use.
Annotated Bibliography
Cummins, Jim. Bilingualism and Special Education: Issues in Assessment and
Pedagogy. San Diego: College Hill Press, 1984.
The information in this book showed very scientific samples and studies about the struggles minority students face in public schools. Intricate graphs and technical studies examine the data for Second Language learners in many different situations, all of which showed similarities in their troubles with assessment methods that had been in practice. Cummins wanted to express these problems in detail so that he and others could pose alternative solutions. Most significantly useful to this project was his discussion of the difference between communicational speech and performance speech. Students who did well in face-to-face communications were assumed to be proficient in academic use of their second language as well. Cummins examines the nature of proficiency and the assumptions of educators that accompany the idea of proficiency, positing that there are different natures to acquiring proficiency in a second language, and that these different aspects need different requirements and different forms of assessment. One type of assessment does not necessarily imply proficiency in all areas.
Daniels, Harvey A. ed. Not Only English: Affirming America’s Multilingual Heritage.
Urbana: National Council of Teachers of English, 1990.
This collection of articles relating to the push for legislating English as the national language of America was very pertinent to my presentation and what I wanted to discuss. My idea was to examine more specifically how the nature of second language learners speaking in their second language creates the assumptions and paranoia of the native speakers, but if I were to do this project again I would like to refocus on the cycles of paranoia in politics and the imagined cultural threat second language learners pose to native speakers. The essay “Paranoia in Language Politics,” some of which I did find useful for my current focus, would be even more useful if I tweaked the focus a bit. The concepts are intricately tied though, and lend to each other well.
Goolsbee, Austan. “Legislate Learning English? If Only It Were So Easy.” New York
Times on the Web. 22 June 2006. 14 Apr 2008. < >
This article was especially important to my presentation because it reinforced the point that these struggles aren’t the problems of decades earlier, they’re still problems we still face today. Our current president, George W. Bush, has tried to make learning English a requirement for any and all immigrants before they can be legalized as a citizen of the United States. His administration finds a great deal of support from some Americans, but they also find a lot of contention. The article describes the research of two university professors from different states and their findings on the difficulties of learning a second language at all age ranges.