Quick questions on Annotated bibliography and process log for HSC History Extension

An annotated bibliography is a list of your key sources, each followed by a short evaluative note, often within a tight word limit such as a few hundred words in total, so selectivity matters. The fatal error is to summarise what each source says. Instead, each annotation should judge the source historiographically: who wrote it and from what perspective or school, what method and evidence it uses, what its strengths and limitations are, and, above all, how it was useful to your focus question and your argument. A strong annotation treats a secondary source the way Constructing History treats a historian, asking about context, ideology and method, not just content.

The process log records the development of the investigation over time. It should document your major decisions: how you arrived at and refined the focus question, what avenues you explored and abandoned, how your reading changed your view, and how you responded to feedback from teacher or peers. The point is reflection, not volume. A log that merely lists tasks completed is weak; a log that explains why you narrowed your question, or how discovering a new historian forced you to rethink, demonstrates the genuine, recursive nature of historical research.