For this assignment, you are to select a topic in British history before 1650 and collect articles and books as if you were going to write a term paper on the subject.  Your bibliography should have at least 10 sources, four of which must be articles and four of  which must be books.  Judging which texts and articles are good resources is part of this assignment.  Articles should be selected from reputable scholarly journals, such as Past and Present, Social History, Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies, History Today, Albion, Contemporary Review, Journal of Modern History, Church History, Sixteenth Century Journal, English Historical Review, and Renaissance Quarterly. If you are in doubt about a journal, ask.  Books should be written by historians and generally the more current the better.

Next, read the articles and skim the books.  To skim, read the preface and introduction to the books and survey the table of contents.  Take notes as you read about the content and argument of each article/book.

Format

The bibliography must be typed on unlined, 8½-by-11-inch paper, using a ribbon dark enough to produce legible type.  Entries should be single-spaced, with a double space between each entry.  The paper should be typed in a 10- or 12-point font, and have a 1-inch margin on all sides.  Number each page.  Staple the pages together in the upper left-hand corner.  Do not use a cover sheet.  Do not use a folder of any kind.

Length

A minimum of 10 entries with at least four articles and four books included.

Heading

The heading should include your name, the course number, the quarter and year, at the top of the first page.  (Again, do not attach a cover page to your bibliography.)  Then give the publication information on the book you are reviewing, arranged, and punctuated as follows:

Anderson, Alan and Gordon, Raymond: “Witchcraft and the Status of Women—The Case of
England.”  In  Levack, Brian P, editor: Articles on Witchcraft, Magic and Demonology, vol 10, Witchcraft, Women and Society.  New York: Garland Publishing, 1992.

Boyer, Paul and Nissenbaum, Stephen: Salem Possessed: The Social Origins of  Witchcraft. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1974.

Brown, David C: “The Forfeitures of Salem, 1692,”  William and Mary Quarterly, 50:85, 1993.

After the bibliographical information, write a brief summary of the article/book.  Your  summary should be 4-5 sentences long and should summarize the contents and argument of the article or book.  One way to check if you are doing this correctly is to ask yourself if you are giving your reader a sense of how the items in your bibliography differ from one another.

At the end of your bibliography, please list in order of preference your choices for the book review.  Your choices should be books that are contained in your annotated bibliography.

Suggested List of Topics

The following list is meant to get you thinking.  In general, individuals tend to be a difficult topic.  Many, many biographies tend to be poorly written.  I will not restrict you from choosing an individual, but I will be very particular about the quality of the sources you choose.  Some of the topics below will require considerable narrowing.
 

Anglo-Saxon Society  The Norman Conquest  The Domesday Survey  Feudalism      Manor Life      Village Life      Peasantry      Knighthood and Chivalry      Degree and Rank  Church History      Monasteries      Nunneries      Becket      Lanfranc      English Participation in the Crusades      Margery of Kempe      Lollardy      English Reformation      Wolsey      Dissolution of the Monasteries      Dissolution of the Chantries      English Religious Exiles      English Martyrs      Puritanism  Poor Law  Currency  Agriculture and its Developments  Royal Iconography  Witchcraft  Kingship in Scotland      Robert the Bruce  Scottish Nationalism       Rob Roy       William Wallace

The Meaning of Kingship  Warfare      Anglo-Saxon      Norman      Mercenaries      Hundred Years War      Castles and their Purpose in Defense      The English Navy      War of the Roses      Private Armies      The Spanish Armada      The New Model Army  English Common Law      The Star Chamber  Local Government      Sheriffs      Justice of the Peace      Royal Forests  The History of Parliament      Development of Boroughs  Women in English Society  Trade      The Wool Trade      Royal Monopolies      Trade Companies  Guilds  Fraternities  Education  Marriage  Childbirth      Midwifery  Childhood  The Plague