For this step of your final project’s development, you will report the results of your research into a resolution of your paper’s workplace* communication problem topic in an Analytical Annotated Bibliography for three authoritative sources that you plan to use in your project to support your thesis.
Before you begin, review Module 4, "Giving Credit Where Credit is Due: Attribution and Citation," of the academic integrity tutorials to refresh your understanding of why scholars document their research with in-text citations and references.
Objective: Your objective is to demonstrate your ability to research and critically analyze information that can support your project’s thesis.
Caution: The three sources you use for this assignment must be different from the three that you wrote about in Assignment 1, your literature review. Focus your research for this step assignment on professional and scholarly business journal research and case studies on possible resolutions to yours or similar workplace communication problems.
(*Remember, if you are not employed or cannot discuss your workplace, you should be using a communication problem from another organizational setting in which you are involved for your final project, such as school, church, or a community group.)
Each entry must include a reference formatted according to American Psychological Association (7th edition) style rules and an analysis as described below. You should be able to use the material that you develop here in your final project. Before you tackle this exercise, please make sure you have read the Week 4 course materials.
Required Research: You must use at least six authoritative sources in your final project, at least three of which must be scholarly, peer-reviewed journal articles about communication research studies from the UMGC library’s databases.
INSTRUCTIONS
To find appropriate resources, use the UMGC library’s portal to communication studies resources at COMM 300: Communication Theory: Resources. For help finding academic journal articles, see the UMGC library’s resource, “Locate and Evaluate Scholarly Articles,” at Locate and Evaluate Scholarly Articles . Two online sources can be among your resources, but their credibility must be verified. See the library’s handout, “Is My Source Credible?" for help.
Although you may review the < Encyclopedia of Communication Theory > in our classroom resources to select and come to understand the communication theory or theories that you want to use in your final project, dictionaries and encyclopedias cannot be included in your Analytical Annotated Bibliography or the references for your final project. A relevant YouTube video may be included as one of the internet sources, provided it has been evaluated for credibility.
Content: Review each resource for answers to as much of the following as possible:
Describe each source's author
Analyze each resource's purpose and audience
Summarize each resource's main arguments and conclusions
Assess each resource's information for relevance to the paper's research question
Evaluate each resource's strengths, weaknesses and/or biases
Explain how each resource's information will be used in the final research paper
Format: The Analytical Annotated Bibliography must contain the following information:
Use an APA-style title page.
Repeat the title of your assignment at the top of Page 2.
Provide the name of the communication theory you are using in your final project.
Provide the thesis you are working with at this point in your project’s development.
Create an APA-style reference citation for each resource.
Write a paragraph annotation of between 150-200 words (excluding APA-style reference) that answers at least the following questions:
What is the resource about? Summarize its purpose, findings, argument, and/or conclusions.
What is the resource’s greatest strength in relation to your project's focus? Assess the resource’s strengths, weaknesses, or biases.
What role will the resource play in your project? Evaluate the resource’s relevance to your project.