Everybody needs to complete this assignment. Each class member will rank all the proposals, and from the rankings, we will determine which topics to pursue further. The study will include a bibliography of sources available either in Ann Arbor or here, and will explain why the topic is important to investigate. This is a course in academic research and writing, so the reading that you do needs to come from academic publications. Over the course of the semester you need to read and annotate about 100 pages of articles, and you need to read one book on your area of research.
Annotations are really a kind of bibliography.
You first need to list the standard bibliographic information. After the bibliographic information, write a paragraph which summarizes the main points of the article. You need to clearly explain what's special about the article and why it would be useful to other people's understanding of the topic to read it. Every time the class reads a common text, you need to prepare a 1-2 page response to the text. Every time the individuals in your group write papers, you'll need to respond to the papers.