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Class 9: Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe: introduction and reference sources

introduction

Welcome to the Class 9 research guide for Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe.

For this project, you will not be writing a research paper.
Instead, you will be creating an annotated bibliography with 2 sources.

You will still need to choose a topic. You will still need to take notes and make citations. You will still need to use academic and credible sources. You will also still need have a research question and answer it. Essentially, you will still need to do all the things you would normally do for a research paper, except writing the actual paper.

The research question you are trying to answer is:

Why is [my topic] important in Igbo culture?

Creating an annotated bibliography means that in addition to answering the research question, you will also explain how the sources you have found have helped you answer that question (or not helped, as the case may be!). 

Below are some library databases and websites with reference sources and secondary source-type information that will help you as you try to answer this research question.

reference databases

annotated bibliographies : the breakdown

Creating an annotated bibliography encourages you to read your sources carefully and critically, and shows that you have a good sense of how a particular source relates to your topic.

There are 4 parts to an annotated bibliography:

  • Citation
  • Summary: A summary of the information within source itself. Essentially, what have you learned from this source? What topics are covered?
  • Evaluation: A critical analysis of the source and how the information within it is presented. What perspective does this source offer? When was it written? How does it compare to the other sources you have looked at?
  • Reflection: Why was this source helpful (or not) in answering the research question? When it comes to your research needs, what are the strengths and weaknesses of the source? 

Helpful tip: Write your annotations after you have finished taking your notes on all your sources. Then you will be able to better evaluate how a particular source has been helpful to you! Annotations are not replacements for notes - they are the meta analysis of your notes themselves.