Annotated Bibliography (MLA)

Teen pregnancy is an issue that reaches all communities, and there are simple ways to fix

it. The solution that is commonly proposed but never explored in reality, especially here in Utah.

Seeing as sex education is illegal in Utah, my solution to this problem is to provide an

educational game about the financial struggles of a single mother through a role play game.

Below are four sources that provide information concerning the topic of adolescent pregnancy,

including percentages based on area, race, and age. The first two sources explore statistics and

demographic information, and the last two explain financial information concerning teenage

motherhood. My solution to this problem is to provide an educational game about the financial

struggles of a single mother through a role play game.

Maternal and Infant Health Program. “Teen Pregnancy Prevention.” ​Maternal and Infant Health

Program​, https://mihp.utah.gov/teenpregnancyprevention. The author of this article is the

Maternal and Infant Health program, and its publisher is the Utah Department of Health.

It was written and published on an unknown date. It is an educational site with statistics

concerning teen pregnancy and prevention. It contains information regarding the

prevention of teenage pregnancy and adolescent motherhood with links that redirect to

other pages in the site. It is a brief overview of teen pregnancy in Utah and addresses with

a bulleted list how it matters, and why it should be addressed. It is a government issued

site, and is linked with many of Utah’s other government articles.

 This source is very objective in its discussion of teen pregnancy and its related issues. Its

inclusion of information concerning teen pregnancy and its trends places it as very

valuable to the social issue of how to end adolescent motherhood. This source uses

strictly logos to bring information to the reader, and provides no other form of rhetorical

strategy. The audience of this article is researchers, psychologists, or anyone concerned

with the issue of adolescent motherhood. Its credibility is established in the bottom with

its citations.

Office of Adolescent Health. “Trends in Teen Pregnancy and Childbearing.” ​HHS.gov​, US

Department of Health and Human Services, 30 May 2019,

https://www.hhs.gov/ash/oah/adolescent-development/reproductive-health-and-teen-preg

nancy/teen-pregnancy-and-childbearing/trends/index.html. This article was written by the

Office of Adolescent Health, and published by the US Department of Health and Human

Services on the thirtieth of May, 2019. It is a longer overview of teenage pregnancy in

Utah. It contains correlative information between, race, ethnicity, and poverty to create a

link between societal situations and the probability of teenage pregnancy and adolescent

motherhood. It describes characteristics associated with teen pregnancy, and includes a

lengthy list of citations at the bottom of the article.

This source is completely void of opinion on the matter of teenage pregnancy, and

provides no subjective view on the matter. Its valuability to the social issue of teen

pregnancy is established in its graphs and charts, as well as its discussion of types of
 change concerning the matter. This article uses logos to create a source of information

about teen pregnancy that the reader can pull from, and no other form of rhetorical

strategy is used. Its audience is found in circles of research and family sciences. Its

credibility comes from its multiple sources of cited information.

Marooney, Linda. “Financial Problems of Teenage Pregnancy.” ​Sapling.com,​ Leaf Group LTD.,

https://www.sapling.com/7743294/financial-problems-teenage-pregnancy. Marooney

wrote this article on an unknown date, and it was published by Leaf Group LTD.

Marooney’s article is a breakdown of the financial status of the average teenage mother,

including cost of care after birth, insurance, child care, &c. Marooney explains ways to

help a teenage mother carry herself out of poverty, or to help herself make a living while

dealing with adolescent motherhood. Marooney explains that the challenges a teen

mother faces, “ can be overcome with dedication, commitment and support,” explaining

clearly what her motive is in this article.

This article perfectly demonstrates the usefulness of education in the realm of adolescent

motherhood, although it does not give information toward the argument. Rather than

discussing how to end teen pregnancies, this article discusses how to financially cope

with them. Marooney directly cites outside sources in her article to give herself

credibility, while still displaying copious amounts of logos to reinforce her article. The

audience she is trying to reach is adolescent mothers in need of financial assistance. This

source is credible to its audience, and other audiences as well.

Ogunjimi, Angela. “Teen Mothers & Their Financial Problems.” ​Sapling.com​, Leaf Group LTD.,

https://www.sapling.com/7745655/teen-mothers-financial-problems. Angela Ogunjimi

wrote this article on an unknown date, and it was published by Leaf Group LTD.

Ogunjimi’s article is a breakdown of the financial problems an adolescent mother may

experience, similar to Marooney’s article above. Unlike Marooney’s article however,

Ogunjimi does not provide direct solutions to the problems she discusses. Ogunjimi

simply outlines the problems a teen mother will face.

In contrast to Marooney’s article above, Ogunjimi does take a stance in her article with

one simple statement; “teen pregnancies shot up after the country experienced a 14-year

decline, thanks to more sex education and the accessibility of contraceptives.” In this

simple citation, Ogunjimi has named herself as non-credible to anyone on the opposite

side of the debate. She is saying that sex education will lead to more births, while others

may argue the opposite. The audience she is reaching out to is the adolescent mothers of

America. She is credible to an extent, but her use of opinion mixed in with statistics

makes her credibility questionable.

These sources all provided valuable information towards my research and my

project. The statistical aspect of the articles was eye opening for me and presented some

information that I did not expect to find. The financial and social aspects of the articles

were also a beautiful addition to my research, seeing as it provided a unique perspective

that few educators have taken when addressing the topic of teen pregnancy.