Instructions:

 • The focus of this assignment is researching accurate information and presenting that research in clear, accurate, and honest ways to your reader. 

• Annotate only five terms/concepts provided below from the essay “Imagining the Future” by the Canadian designer and writer Bruce Mau and/or the essay “In an age of robots, schools are teaching our children to be redundant” by the British author George Monbiot. You can chose your terms/concepts to annotate from the same essay or select from both of the essays as long as you have five annotations total. 

• Write research annotations (minimum 100 words/maximum 500 words each) for each term/ concept listed below with a minimum of ONE cited source per annotation. 

• Annotations are explanations of terms and concepts. In your annotations: 1) define what the term/concept means in the context of the essay; 2) provide responses to the question posed after each term/concept; 3) explain why the source you chose for your research is a reliable source. 

• Each source that you use to support your research must be a reliable source, and preferably a scholarly source. No use of unedited or personal websites, or citing of Wikipedia, 

 Annotations: 

• Choose the five terms/concepts you will be annotating. You can choose your five from both essays, or just one of them.

 • Consider different keywords you can use to find information on your term/concept if it is more than single word. Examples: “counterculture 1960s 1970s” instead of “countercultural”; “South Africa racial relations” instead of “…the first multi-racial school in South Africa…” 

  “Imagining the Future” by Bruce Mau  https://thewalrus.ca/2007-01-ideas/ 

1. “…utopia…dystopian” – What are examples of both a “utopia” and a “dystopia” from the twentieth century? 

2. “…the Malthusians…” – What is the history of ‘Malthusianism’? 

3. “…rates of child mortality for most of the developing world…” – This essay is from 2006. What are the current rates of child mortality in the “developing world”? 

4. “…countercultural…” – What does this term mean in relation to Western culture in the 1960 and 1970s? 

 5. “…the old politics of Left versus Right…” – What do the terms “Left” and “Right” mean when applied to political ideology?  

  MLA Works Cited Citation: 

Mau, Bruce. “Imagining the Future: Why the cynics are wrong.” The Walrus, vol. 3, no. 10, Dec. 2006, pp. 32–35. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx? direct=true&db=rga&AN=504261386&site=eds-live.  

   “In an age of robots, schools are teaching our children to be redundant” by George Monbiot  https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/feb/15/robots-schools-teaching-children-redundant-testing-learn-future 

1. “…social engineering…” – Why do many people think “social engineering” is a negative thing? 

2. “…post-industrial era…” – How is the “post-industrial era” different from the “industrial era”? 

3. “…indoctrination…” – Why do many people think “indoctrination” is a negative thing? 

4. “…the first multi-racial school in South Africa…” – Why is this South Africa’s first multiracial school? What is the issue of race relations like in South Africa? 5. “…like the new system in Finland…” – What is the Finnish school system? How is it different?  

 MLA Works Cited Citation: 

Monbiot, George. “In an age of robots, schools are teaching our children to be redundant.” The Guardian, Feb. 2017. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/feb/15/robots-schoolsteaching-children-redundant-testing-learn-future.  

 Format: 

• Failure to follow formatting requirements will result in a loss of up to 5% of overall grade. 

• Write separate annotation paragraphs for each term/concept. Do not write in an essay format: there is no need for an introduction or conclusion paragraph. • 100-word count minimum/500-word count maximum per annotation. • Typewritten, 12-point Times New Roman font, or similar style font, DOUBLE-SPACED. 

• Title: Research Annotation Assignment. 

• Format your document according to your chosen citation style (APA, MLA, Chicago etc.). If you are using APA, you DO NOT have to provide an Abstract. 

• Cite sources in-text using your chosen citation style (APA, MLA, Chicago etc.). • Include a bibliography with all sources, including the original essays (which I have provided for you in APA, MLA, and Chicago), formatted correctly according to your chosen citation style at the end of your annotations.  

 Example essay:

                                          Research Annotation Assignment 1. 

“…global culture…” – What is Mau’s position in relation to “global culture”? Does he seem to be view it positively or negatively?  

  Global culture needs to be defined by first considering “globalization”, which is “a term that has been used since the 1980s to describe the increasing interdependence and interaction between people, cultures, and the economies of different nations” (Flynn). Culture can be an ambiguous or fungible concept (Stuart 428), but Flynn defines it as “the collection of customs, attitudes, values, and beliefs that characterize one group of people and distinguish them from other groups, along with the material products a group creates”. Global culture then, in the context of Bruce Mau’s essay “Imagining the Future”, published by The Walrus in 2006, can be defined as the customs, attitudes, values and beliefs that are shared by the nations of the world, who are increasingly interdependent and connected due to an increasingly globalized economy. This definition can be seen as too neutral, as there are many critics of globalization who view “global” culture as merely “America’s mass-produced and -marketed products [which] spread into [the world] over the past century” due to the rise of global capitalism and consumerism (Stuart, 428).  Global culture is referred to twice by Mau in his essay. In paragraph 21, Mau argues first “the greatest challenge we face as a global culture — sustainability — is a consequence of our   great success”, discussing the “six billion people” on Earth as a sign of our success and reason for continued optimism about humanity’s future. In paragraph 27, Mau subsequently claims, “[a]s a global culture we are beginning to outgrow polarized and binary divisions but we still confuse the media with reality”. Flynn characterizes the positions of critics and supporters of globalization and global culture thusly: “Critics consider global culture to be interchangeable with American, Western, mass, or commercial culture. Supporters celebrate the increased understanding and tolerance that can be produced by shared values, media, and material objects, and a shared language”. In his essay, Mau clearly aligns himself as a supporter of global culture. He argues in his discussions of the concept that we have succeeded in growing the world population because we share resources and ideas to “the worst problems afflicting people around the world”, and he proposes a global culture that can “outgrow polarized and binary divisions”, indicating a belief in shared values and attitudes that transcend traditional borders.  The two research sources I have chosen to use are all scholarly sources, as they have been written by experts in the field and published by reliable publishing organizations, Salem Press Encyclopedia and the academic journal, American Review of Canadian Studies, both which subject their contributors to the peer-review process.  

                                              Works Cited 

  Flynn, Simone I. “Global Culture.” Salem Press Encyclopedia, 2019. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ers&AN=89185499&site=eds-live. Mau, Bruce. “Imagining the Future.” The Walrus. 12 Dec. 2006, https://thewalrus.ca/2007-01- ideas/ Stuart, Reginald C. “Death of the Nation-State? Global Mass Culture in the Twenty-First Century: A Roundtable Discussion.” American Review of Canadian Studies, vol. 31, no. 3, 2001, pp. 427-440. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/02722010109481603.