Please read the prompt and sample carefully.

AnnotatedBibliography
English 1302: Rhetoric and Composition II

An annotated bibliography is a list of sources on a specific topic that includes a summary of each
source. As you research your topic, construct an annotated bibliography of relevant sources.
Your final annotated bibliography should include annotations for at least ten sources that
represent multiple perspectives on your issue. Please note: your next paper will require you to
summarize sources that advocate at least three different positions on your issue, so you can save
time on that paper by including in your annotated bibliography sources that support at least three
distinct positions.

The list should be complied in alphabetical order using Modern Language Association (MLA)
style. Consult the Purdue OWL website (https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/) for directions on
how to format entries.

Your annotation for each source should consist of two paragraphs. In the first, answer the
following questions:

1. What kind of source is it—e.g., a book, journal article, magazine article, newspaper article,
encyclopedia entry, database summary article, website, etc.?
2. What is the genre of the piece—e.g., a news report, an editorial, a report of scientific research,
a summary of a number of sources? What is the purpose of the text?
3. Who is/are the author/authors? What are the author’s credentials? How does the author
establish his or her authority to speak on this subject? Also consider the credibility of the
publication venue.
4. Who is the intended audience? Consider where the text is published, the degree of specialized
knowledge needed to understand the text, and how objective or argumentative the text is.
5. When was the text published? How does the publication date affect the relevance and
usefulness of the source?

In your second paragraph, summarize the content of the piece in a way that demonstrates you
have read the source and understood its content. If the source is an argument, as opposed to a
purely informational text, identify its main claim and supporting reasons. In addition,
explain how you plan to use the source in your Researched Position Paper (obviously this plan
may change as you conduct further research and begin drafting). Will you use the source for
background information, and if so, what information specifically do you plan to use? Does the
source contain evidence that you plan to borrow, and if so, what evidence? If the source is an
argument, will you position it as an ally or an opponent, and why?

Sample Annotated Bibliography Entry

Estes, Todd. “The Connecticut Effect: The Great Compromise of 1787 and the History of Small

State Impact on Electoral College Outcomes.” Historian 73.2 (2011): 255-283. Academic
Search Complete. Web. 7 Mar. 2012.

This journal article was written by Todd Estes, an Associate Professor of History at
Oakland University, and was published in June 2011 in Historian, an academic history journal.
Estes is credible because he is widely published in the discipline of history and has published
numerous articles on the electoral process. Because Historian is an established journal in the
field of history, the audience for this article comprises academic historians. That said, the article
is accessible to non-specialists who possess some prior knowledge of the electoral process and
how it was formed. Because the article was published within the last year, one can assume it
represents current thinking in the field of history.
The article addresses how the Connecticut Compromise, which gave smaller states
disproportionate representation in the Electoral College, has affected presidential election
outcomes throughout the years. My plan is to use much of the information presented here as
background information in my Mapping the Issue paper and my Researched Position Paper.
Specifically, I will borrow Estes’s comparison of the ratio of Electoral College voters to
population in smaller states versus larger states.

MLAHeading

Unsocialized Home Schooled Child on Board: An Annotated Bibliography

Bradley, Reb. “Crisis in Homeschooling: Exposing Major Blind Spots of Homeschoolers.” The Virginia Home Educator Fall 2011: 8-12. Print.

The author is a minster, speaker, and a home schooling parent. This article is primarily intended for home schooling families. This article documents the author’s struggles and disappointments raising his children in a control oriented home. He encourages parents to see their children as individuals and find happiness with the people they are versus a “project” to complete. The author uses several examples, including his own, of a child seen as the “perfect” home schooled child, but then turns away from the core value system of the parents after age 18. He gives example of his own failures or “blind spots” and why he now wishes he had just appreciated his children for who they were instead of whom he wanted them to be.

Today home schooling families struggle with some of the same criticisms as the author. The author offers home schooling families a change in approach of parenting and teaching. This approach supports my argument by showing home schooling parents are capable of self-redirection and correction to criticism rather than merely defensiveness.

I will use this article to show how homeschooling families are informed and share experiences and information to bring improvement to home education and socialization.

“German Horror Tale.” The Washington Times, 27 Feb. 2007. Web. 13 Sept. 2011.

This news article documents how the German government is punishing home schooling families; issuing stiff fines, imprisonment, and even placing a young girl in a psychiatric ward simply because she was home schooled. Hitler outlawed home schooling in Germany in 1938, the law remains in place today. The article goes further to say that the United Nations is also restricting rights of the parents under Article 29 of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child. “Article 29 is currently used in Belgium to limit the rights of parents to home school”. The Washington Times states, although “unlikely to pass the U.S. Senate, there is support here for Article 29 because some view it as customary international law”.

The article is a horror tale! Countries which Americans view as “free” do not have the same freedoms. This article shows a point of view against home schooling simply because children would not be socialized at home “properly” (i.e.) by the government or society. The most horrifying part of this article was the supposition that there are legal and political officials in the U.S. who would like to “adopt Article 29 as part of American jurisprudence”.

I plan on using this article to exemplify the use of varying definitions by different groups of people, with regard to the “socialization” of school children here in the U.S.

Hicks, Marybeth. Bringing up Geeks: How to Protect Your Kid’s Childhood in a Grow-up-too-fast World. New York: Berkley Trade, 2008. Print.

This book is written for parents to create the idea of raising children as the “new cool”, being a geek. The author, a mother and weekly columnist for the Washington Times, attempts to change the negative image of the term “geek”. She uses her own family’s experiences to show how parents can raise children, considered geeks years ago, to the new cool. She points out that many children constantly try to imitate adult behavior. She uses examples of children getting involved with risky behaviors like sex, drugs, and “playing adult” in order to be considered cool. She gives parents the idea by allowing children to be children and have “cool” experiences, those children will not find the need to glorify “other children” (such as Miley Cyrus) who live, act, and play in an adult world.

The author is not a home schooling parent, but writes of the ideals many homeschooling parents currently instill in their curriculums and “house rules”. I was immediately drawn to the book by the title, however, did not expect to read it in one day. The book adds to my argument by supporting the idea many parents feel children are growing up too fast, even some non-home schooling parents want to change that. It gives a good viewpoint of parents’ attitudes to the current “socialization” of children today.

I will use this book to support my argument in several areas. Primarily, I will show commonality of values between home schooling parents and those who send their children to school; public or private.

Khadaroo, Stacey Teicher. “N.H. Case: Can a Divorced Parent Veto Homeschooling?” Christian Science Monitor. 6 Jan. 2011. Web. 8 Sept. 2011.

This article is about a divorced family in New Hampshire. A man takes his ex-spouse to court to have his daughter removed from her home school environment and placed in the local public school. The father is described as feeling that the mother’s rigid religious beliefs coupled with her home schooling does not allow their daughter enough social interaction and it is preventing his daughter from exposure to “other ideas and life skills”. The lower court agreed with the father, maintaining the home school environment did not allow for socialization and determined the daughter must enroll in the local public school. The case is currently on appeal to the higher court.

The article gave me great pause because the lower court ordered the girl, who had been home schooled since the first grade, into public school because it was “in the best interest of the child”. Yet, the child was excelling in scholastics and was already taking three classes at the public school. Teachers at the public school did not agree with the implications she was under socialized. I noticed the focus was primarily finding the daughter had taken on the mother’s “rigid religious” beliefs. This article supports claims how some in the legal profession have a bias against home schooling.

I will use this court case and its outcome (if available), as the view of some who see the public school as the only place for children to be “properly” socialized.

Medlin, Richard G. “Home Schooling and the Question of Socialization.” Peabody Journal of Education 75.1 (2000): 107-23. Advanced Placement Source. Web. 10 Sept. 2011.

The author, who is also a professor of psychology, discusses socialization in home schools in this essay. The author reviews several studies involving socialization, comparing home schooled children to those who attend government run schools. These studies were conducted in the 80’s and 90’s and showed children who were home schooled have the same or greater civic participation and awareness skills.

Although this essay is from the year 2000, I noted it has been cited in several articles and other studies I reviewed. I question, if the study covers all the concerns of socialization, why does the idea “home schooled children are not socialized” still exist? This essay, although not recent, supports my argument home schooled children do participate just as well in society.

I will use this essay to show how home schooled children are equally adapted to participate in society. Reading this essay led me to another conclusion; there are different definitions of socialization depending on your belief system. I plan to address this issue while defining “socialize” and “socialization”.

Peterson, Paul E. SAVING Schools: From Horace Mann to Virtual Learning. Cambridge: Belknap of Harvard UP, 2010. Print.

This book time-lines education through six “education reformers” beginning with Horace Mann to the present time with virtual learning. Due to the advancement of technology, the author notes big changes to come in present day education. The author details the ability to create individual learning plans for every student and how technology can be the best innovation to schooling yet.

Although I have not finished reading this book, I find the history of government run (public) schools especially interesting. This book drove me to search the history of both Mann and Dewey to learn how they defined “socialization”. This book suggests different groups of people hold different meanings of the terms “to socialize” and “socialization”.

I will be using this book for some of its historical references as well as the positive references to virtual learning, which many of my home schooling peers use already.

Ross, Catherine J. “Fundamentalist Challenges to Core Democratic Values: Exit and Homeschooling.” William and Mary Bill of Rights Journal 18 (2010): 991-1014. Web. 11 Sept. 2011.

This essay is written by a law professor at George Washington University and argues home schooling prevents children from being exposed to and tolerating “others’” ideas and beliefs. The essay describes most homeschoolers as narrow viewed and incapable of providing quality social education to their children. The author states “the state is legally required to promote tolerance and good citizenship” and does so in the public school system. Her case citations are from several different states. She cites the New Hampshire divorce case, I also cite, and applauds the judge for placing the girl back into public school, as legally correct. She also believes home schooling is under regulated and “identifies” the need to increase current regulations in every state.

I, as a home schooling parent, am not the target audience. The author has obvious biases against home schooling in general, as noted by her language throughout the essay. I have obvious opposition to this essay, but I found it necessary to read and understand so I carefully define my argument; socialization can be accomplished at home, even by people of faith.

I will be using this essay to show there are some in the legal community who still feel parents “sequester” their children at home and it is the government’s responsibility to teach good citizenship. I will also use this essay to give examples of home schooling families who choose not to follow the laws of the state by not filing “intent to home school” documents.

Scaccia, Jesse. “The Case Against Homeschooling.” Teacher, Revised | Real Talk From Real Teachers. 30 May 2009. Web. 25 Aug. 2011.

This is a teachers “blog site” which encourages debate about teacher related issues through comments to articles posted on the website. In this article the author, who is an accomplished English teacher, goes on a “rant” against home schooling and creates his “top10” reasons why home schooling parents are doing the wrong thing. Suffice to say, he does not appreciate the idea of home schooling. The list is a bit vulgar, but a good example of the feelings some teachers have towards home schooling, including my cousin and my sister, both teachers.

I understand this is an opinion based website, but one of my goals is to gather information on the teacher’s perspective of home schooling. As I mentioned, my cousin and my sister are both teachers with strong negative feelings towards our family for home schooling our children. They share some of the same ideas as the author, so I feel the expressions are valid and deserve consideration as a viewpoint.

I will be using this article to represent the viewpoint of some teachers, specifically regarding socialization.

Van Pelt, Deani A Neven, Patricia A. Allison, and Derek J. Allison. “Fifteen Years Later: Home-Educated Canadian Adults.” hsdla.ca.org. Home School Legal Defense Association, 2009. Web. 14 Sept. 2011.

This is a synopsis of a Canadian study of home schooled children and their adaption in society. The study looked at 281 families who originally participated in a study of socialization in home schooled children in 1994. The study looks at “15 years later” and compared home schooled children to public school children (currently living in the same area) with regard to occupation, civic participation, college attendance and religious beliefs. The study found many similarities between the populations and the only differences showed that home schooled children participated more and not less in society.

This is another study which supports that homeschooling does not lead to social isolation. Although this is a more recent study, it has its flaws. The study is small. The study does not address the issues behind why there is still a negative attitude toward those who are home schooled.

I intend to use this study to support my argument; home schooled children are not socially inept adults. I will also use this study to explain how home schooled children are in fact socialized, although not “properly socialized” as defined by some.

Virginia. Department of Education. For Students and Parents: Home Instruction. “n.d.” Web. 10 Sept. 2011.

This is a government website run by the Department of Education in the state of Virginia. It is designed to assist home schooling parents to comply with the regulations set forth in this state. The website also has many links to the counties within the state and what each requires for “notification of intent to home school” and who to contact in your specific school district.

I use this website to obtain updated information on regulations affecting my home schooling efforts. I use the many different links to relative articles as they apply to my family. .

I plan to use this website as an example of how to access home schooling requirements and the process involved in notifying the local school district of the “intent to home school”.