Sample descriptive annotation

London, Herbert. Five Myths of the Television Age. Television Quarterly 10(1) Spring 1982:81-89.

The author explains how television contradicts five ideas commonly believed by most people, using specific examples seen on television, such as the assassination of John Kennedy, to demonstrate his points. His examples contradict such truisms as "seeing is believing", "a picture is worth a thousand words", and "satisfaction is its own reward." London uses logical arguments to support his ideas, and doesn't refer to any previous works on the topic: the article is his personal opinion.

Sample critical annotation

London, Herbert. Five Myths of the Television Age. Television Quarterly 10(1) Spring 1982:81-89.

Herbert London, a Dean at New York University and author of several books and articles, explains how television contradicts five ideas commonly believed by most people, using specific examples seen on television, such as the assassination of John Kennedy, to demonstrate his points. His examples contradict such truisms as "seeing is believing", "a picture is worth a thousand words", and "satisfaction is its own reward." London uses logical arguments to support his ideas, and doesn't refer to any previous works on the topic: the article is his personal opinion. His style and vocabulary would make the article of interest to any reader. The article clearly illustrates London's points, but does not explore their implications, leaving the reader with many unanswered questions.

Ex. 1. Answer the questions.

1. What is the purpose of an abstract? And of an annotation?

2. How would you translate the two words into Russian? Think about such Russian words and collocations as реферат, конспект, аннотация, краткое изложение содержания, резюме.

3. What types of annotations do you know? What is the difference between them?

Ex. 2. Which of these statements are true? Correct the false ones.

		TRUE	FALSE
1	An abstract is a summary in your own words, of an article, chapter, or book
2	An abstract is evaluative and must include your personal opinions.
3	The purpose of an abstract is to give a reader sufficient information for him or her to decide whether it would be worthwhile reading the entire article or book.
4	An abstract should aim at giving as much information as possible. The number of words is unlimited.
5	Normaly, we write an abstract about a document written by somebody else.
6	Annotations, unlike abstracts, are protected under copyright law.

LANGUAGE TRAINING

Ex. 1. Fill in the correct word from the list. Then choose any item and make up a sentence:

short, thorough, level of, electronic, distinctive, collected, primary, concise, unanswered, publicly, sectioned, complete, commonly, verified.

………………………….…...overview …………………….…...understanding ……………………………...statement ……………………….……….version ……………………bibliographic entry ………….…………..reading difficulty ……………………….…….objectives

……………………………..available ………………………….….logically ………………………………….data …….………………………..findings ………………………………features ………………………………believed ……………………………..questions

Ex. 2. Fill in the correct preposition.

To take advantage ……. smth; to be proposed ………. smth; to be concerned ………. smth; in favor ……… smth; to depend ……… smth; due ………. smth; to be based ……….. smth; in order ……… do smth; to be directed ………… smth; in addition ………… smth; to refer ……… smth.

Ex. 3. Fill in the gaps using the words from the list:

criteria, in conformity, summary, outline, scope, provide, conclusion, dissertations.

An abstract is usually a 1)…………… provided for a specific purpose in an academic context. For example, at most universities students submitting 2)…………….. have to provide an abstract, too. This has to conform to specific, given 3)…………… . Similarly, when scholars and scientists send papers to scientific periodicals they are often required to 4)…………… an abstract, again 5)……………… with specified criteria. An abstract should give an 6)……………… of the hypothesis and the 7)…………………. and should indicate the 8)……………… of the dissertation or article¹².

Ex. 4. Fill in the table with an appropriate verb from the list:

сontradicts, provides, uses, refers to, states, gives.

………………………………. ………………………………. ………………………………. ………………………………. ………………………………. ……………………………….

a solid rationale for choosing the topic logical arguments to support his ideas some commonly believed ideas any previous works on the topic the primary objectives and scope of the study special priority to verified findings

Use expressions from the table to talk about a book or paper you have recently read.

e.g. This paper provides the rationale for developing students' intercultural competencies.

Ex. 5. Read the following book notes published in The New York Review of Books (January 10 – February 6, 2013). Underline the words related to the word book. Fill in the gaps in the table below.

[Книга] захватывающая, увлекательная	riveting
смелая, своевременная и ярко написанная	ambitious, timely, and eloquent
	original
	eye-opening
написанная с особым талантом и чувством юмора	written with flair and humor
	deeply researched
проницательная/глубокая	full of insight
резкая, критическая, бескомпромиссная	incisive
тонкая/ поучительная	perceptive and revealing
	erudite and elegant
	careful and convincing
	compellingly written
основанная на большом количестве документов	richly / massively documented
красиво иллюстрированная
убедительно написанная	well argued
стимулирующая к размышлению

Ex. 6. In pairs, speak about a research book/ paper you have enjoyed. Use the exercise above to fill in the gaps.

A. Have you read the latest book by …..? I’ve heard so much about it.

B. Yes, I have. My advisor lent it for me.

A. What is your opinion of the book?

B. I think this is a ……… book. I think you must read it by all means.

A. What did you like so much about it?

B. Well, it gives the best overview….…

A. Sounds interesting. Tell me more!

B. The author takes particular interest in …

SKILLS