The document is an annotated bibliography featuring various sources discussing literacy and writing. It includes interpretations of articles by authors such as Rich Motoko, Anne Lamott, and Barbara Tuchman, discussing the impact of the internet on literacy, writing strategies, and historical perspectives on writing. Additionally, it offers guidance on creating annotated bibliographies and emphasizes the importance of evaluating sources in research.

1. Student Name
Professor
Course Name
[e1]Date
Annotated Bibliography: Artifacts Readings[e2]
Motoko, Rich. "Literacy Debate: Online, R U Really Reading?"
The New York Times. New
York Times, 27 July 2008. Web. 20 May 2009.
Presented[e3] in a journalistic style, “Literacy Debate: Online,
R U Really
Reading?” presents a range of opinions regarding whether or not
the Internet enhances
literacy. The author pulls quotes from experts and from
teenagers to offer perspectives
regarding why the Internet is having such an impact on literacy
for this generation. His
variety of sources underscores that even experts don’t agree on
whether the Internet

2. enhances or diminishes literacy. But, regardless of the debate
regarding literacy
outcomes, many other countries are beginning to assess Internet
literacy, a trend which
the United States is choosing to ignore. The sampling of
student quotes also made clear
that students will continue to use the Internet to interact with
others and to read and do
research. The question ultimately posed by the author [e4]is
what educators will do with
the interest students show in the Internet: will they treat it as a
teachable moment, or will
they discount the Internet as a sub-standard form of literacy,
allowing students to draw
their own conclusions and lessons from the medium?
Since the article appeared in the New York Times, the reader
expects a certain
level of fairness to both sides of the issue. [e5]The author
allowed equal time to experts
who approved online reading versus those who believe that
students’ literacy levels are
falling because of extensive Internet use, at the expense of

3. traditional print reading. The
quotes from students display a wide range of reasons for
Internet usage, from connecting
with others regarding academic topics to reading and writing
fan fiction, and the students
showed a wide range of critical thinking and research and
writing abilities. By using a
variety of interviewees, as well as statistical data representing
both sides of the issue, the
author presents the kind of journalism one would expect from a
leading news source in
the United States.
Lamott, Anne. Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and
Life. New York: Anchor, 1995.
Print.
In this selection, essayist Anne Lamott gives practical advice on
how writers can
best tackle long writing assignments. Reflecting on her personal
experience as essayist
and novelist,[e6] Lamott explains how she personally combats
authorial deferments such
as a wandering mind, “shitty” (122) first drafts, and writing
without a plan in mind. Most

4. specifically, Lamott centers on the idea that all writing, no
matter how large in scope,
should be written as her own ten-year-old brother was once
forced to write a report on
birds in one night – just take it “bird by bird” (122)[e7], or one
small piece at a time.
Lamott’s essay is written for struggling writers of all genres.
Her practical, thorough, and
entertaining advice pertains to writers working on small
assignments or dissertations and
everything in between. Considering Lamott’s extensive,
decades- long experience as a
writer, her advice can be taken with great weight by the reader.
Lamott’s light, humorous,
and anecdotal [e8]take on the subject also makes the reader feel
at ease when reading her
advice. Her own history as a struggling writer allows for Lamott
to effectively serve the
needs and values of her own readers through her guidance.
Tuchman, Barbara W. “When Does History Happen?” Practicing
History. New York: Knopf,
1981. 27-28. Print.

5. The author, Barbara Tuchman, is writing about the difference
between
contemporary historians and historians from subsequent
generations. She attempts to
describe the various contributions that both types of historians
make, and this excerpt of
her article focuses on contemporary historians, who are people
writing at the moment of
an historical event (27). She seems to have two main arguments
in her article. First, she
argues that the more “conscious” historians are of what they are
writing, the more
valuable their contributions will be. For instance, she describes
“on-lookers” and “active
participants” as two different kinds of historians who provide
“narratives” o[e9]f events
for future generations. In contrast, journalists, writers of
memoirs and autobiographies,
and those who compile different historical accounts merely
provide “raw material.”
Second, she argues that an historian who experiences the
moment he or she writes about
has a double-edged sword. That historian is “intimately” aware
of his or her subject

6. matter but lacks the distance to write about it in a detached way.
The author uses
references to famous historical documents, such as Thucydides’
Peloponnesian War[e10],
to reinforce her point. She also uses a series of categories to
make her point, which she
may have created herself.
Her[e11] overview of the various categories of historians uses
simple short
sentences and a basic accessible but academic language. Each
paragraph is fairly small
and very similar to what one might read in a newspaper article.
I[e12] would infer from this
evidence that the article is intended for an undergraduate
student or someone just learning
about the field of history. The writer uses very little evidence,
which implies that her
reader would need to be someone mostly curious and not
skeptical of her position. Since
Tuchman does not offer much evidence for her argument, her
readers would find this
article valuable only if they wanted a basic overview.

7. Creating an Annotated Bibliography
An annotated bibliography provides a bibliographic entry for
each source (the citation itself) and a brief paragraph
explaining what the source's argument is and its significance to
your paper.
Here are some helpful tips for creating and annotated
bibliography: (adapted from The St. Martin’s Handbook)
comments as well as publishing information.
1. descriptive – a bare-bones description of an article, book,
Web site, etc.
Gere, Anne Ruggles. “Kitchen Tables and Rented Rooms: The
Extracurriculum of
Composition.” Literacy: A Critical Sourcebook. Eds. Ellen
Cushman, Eugene R. Kintgen, Barry M.
Kroll, and Mike Rose. Boston: Bedford, 2001. 275-89.
This history of writing instruction argues that writing
instruction takes place – and has historically taken
place – in far less formal venues than the writing classroom.

8. Gere presents numerous examples and
comments on their importance to the study of writing today.
2. substantive/evaluative – summarizes the main points in the
source and then makes an evaluative
comment on them.
Gere, Anne Ruggles. “Kitchen Tables and Rented Rooms: The
Extracurriculum of
Composition.” Literacy: A Critical Sourcebook. Eds. Ellen
Cushman, Eugene R. Kintgen, Barry M.
Kroll, and Mike Rose. Boston: Bedford, 2001. 275-89.
This history of how and where writing is learned includes
what’s been missing from other accounts: the
history of learning writing outside of the academic classroom.
What Gere calls the “extracurriculum”
are the clubs and groups that have formed since the nineteenth
century and continue to form to help
participants improve their writing – and often to improve their
communities. If writing teachers in
academe would take these groups into account, Gere argues,
they could enrich their understanding and
teaching of writing. Like many other articles in this book,
Gere’s piece concerns both the history of
literacy and current practices. The date of her article (1994)
precedes the enormous popularity of
contemporary book clubs, but I wonder what Gere would have
to say about those.

9. essay combine aspects of these two types of
annotations by offering a basic description of the source and
then evaluating how you think it might be helpful
to your project, including what you think it will add to your
final project.
1. Begin by asking yourself what this particular source will add
to your research project.
2. You may need to read beyond the title and opening paragraph
to check for relevance of a source.
3. Remember to check the reliability of a source and credentials
of its author, publisher, or sponsor.
4. Consulting the bibliography of a source can direct you to
other sources that might be helpful.
5. Be aware of the tone and possible bias of sources.