Joseph C.

Carey
English-112-07
July 13, 2016
Prof. Intawiwat
Annotated Bibliography
Reflection
This was a sizable task, and not only did I put forth my best effort for this step in our
process, I went above and beyond what was initially required. Clumsily though, in my attempt
for potency, from certain angles it appears I may have gone a little overboard. Regardless, I
crafted a well-framed and comprehensive annotated bibliography. Not having written anything
academic or substantial in many years, I gave myself a required crash course in MLA format. I
used the guidelines to effectively organize my work, and diligently designed each citation
appropriately. I did an excellent job stating the reasons why each source was appropriate to use
and valid in content; Im proud of those efforts. I painstakingly searched to find items that
specifically related to the approach I was taking. I then applied insightful scrutiny to each and
used that to carefully devise my opinions of each element on my list. As a result, I was able to
grasp valuable information that allowed me to cite each of my individual sources in my final
project, whether sensibly summarized or through direct in-text quotations. However. In
retrospect, there is one issue that I would like to correct. I would probably dial down the use of
the extended vocabulary I employed here. I am a big fan of using inventive and sometimes
challenging words to create interesting sentences and entice the reader. I write in the same
manner as I chose to read. Although in this case I may have gone too far. I wasted an awful lot
of valuable time deciding which words to use, and once I started I couldnt stop because I wanted
this assignment to be consistent throughout. The results are evident in each entry, as some of the
sentences I constructed may be hard for certain readers to comprehend and therefore unable to
grasp the subject matter. Its never a good thing to talk above your target audience.

Though I consider both drafts of my final paper to be of substantial quality, I believe this
may be my best work from this class. I credit this to the fact that the direction I chose for this
semesters body of work was very personal- as our original prompt of self-discovery intended.
Reviewing as many sources as I did, allowed me to absorb a great deal of useful information for
my theme, but also for my own personal growth as well. This was a necessarily in-depth
assignment that touched on many competencies for me. First of all, the knowledge I gained will
be of life-long use for me and my wife. I also learned well about how to communicate my
thoughts and opinions, as well as I just mentioned how to be equally ineffective. This exercise
also gave me the first opportunity to explore the nearly unlimited depths of online resources.
Consulting internet databases for academic sources provided me with angles to my topic that I
had previously been unaware of or simply just didnt know how to find. Having looked into
bipolar disorder prior to this task, I knew quite a bit about the subject matter, or at least I had my
own assumptions and opinions. Here, proper research afforded me a solid base of facts and reallife details that now allow me to fully comprehend a substantial portion of what I used to just
think I knew. Also, prior to this assignment, I had never developed an annotated bibliography,
but have now become very intimate with the process and especially the MLA guidelines I
applied to it.
I would hope readers are able to take away with them the impression of a genuinely
straightforward and honest writer. I think an intelligent audience would be able to deduce that I
am very interested in my theme and also quite candid about my personal connection to it. I
suppose it would also be obvious to them, after reviewing my work, that I love words and the
idea of using an elevated and unique vocabulary to enhance my writing. As a consequence of
those elements and my due diligence, my workmanship on this project is clearly above average,
and I went well beyond the original requirements of the assignment. I was careful to choose only
sources that logically related to my theme and thoughtfully review them. I only had to make one
amendment to my fully formed rough draft. In order to create an interesting opening for my final
paper, I included a list of famous people with bipolar disorder, and as a result had to add that

source to the final draft of my annotated bibliography. It was suggested to my class that this
assigned task would be the most difficult part of our process and that we would not look
favorably upon our professor after its completion. However, I must say though this activity was
rather tedious at times, it was not particularly difficult for me. Im actually quite grateful that
this task was given to us. In fact, the overall procedures were enjoyable at times and the finished
product I was able to present gave me a great deal of satisfaction.