To demonstrate my information literacy, I selected an annotated bibliography from ENG-241 (British Literature I), which was one of four classes which I had the opportunity to complete honors projects for. My honors project, Natura Exenterata, Floriography, and the Impact and Symbology of Flowers Embedded Into Early British Culture and Literature was closely tied to several other projects I completed in the course, such as the assignment I selected to demonstrate my intercultural competence—Althea Talbot’s Natura Exenterata Through the Lens of EcoCriticism and Carolyn Merchant’s The Death of Nature: Women, Ecology, and the Scientific Revolution—as well as a number of explication essays and midterm transcriptions of Natura Eenterata.

This particular assignment, however, was an annotated bibliography for my honors project, in which I compiled over twenty excellent sources exploring the use of flowers in British culture and literature, herbal manuals, botanical influences throughout British history, women’s use of herbs in early times, and other relevant topics. Finding each specific source, especially those with a more focused topic, was somewhat difficult, especially as my intentions for this assignment were to find sources not only extremely relevant to my project but also as scholarly and accurate as possible. Several were extensive books, dissertations, or research papers that took a significant time to dissect and analyze. After compiling what I felt was enough for my project, as well as some extra resources for further reference, I annotated each after reading through the parts that I felt were most relevant to what I needed.

The goals I had selected previously for this assignment were to choose three primary historical sources to study in-depth and to find three zoologists or workers in the zoological field to interview and write about. The first was extremely applicable to my annotated bibliography assignment, as I analyzed several original publications such as herbal manuals from the early 15th and 16th centuries, and floriography books from the Victorian era. My other goal, however, was more applicable to the proposal I used as my critical thinking artifact, which explored the anthropomorphism and misinformation that brought about negative publicity regarding SeaWorld and their care and conservation of marine mammals. For that assignment, I successfully found three zoologists and workers in the zoological field to interview. An alternative goal I selected for my annotated bibliography, however, was to fully comprehend and reiterate the general idea of a source in a clear and effective manner.

The first goal, choosing three primary historical sources to study in-depth, was important to my project for a number of reasons. Considering the project was based around floriography and herbal textbooks, tracking down original sources would give me the necessary information for analyzing the use of flowers in both symbolic and medicinal ways between the late fifteen-hundreds and early nineteen-hundreds. My main primary source was Natura Exenterata itself, which was absolutely fascinating to explore and study in-depth. I had several opportunities to transcribe a number of the receipts within as well, which was particularly helpful for better understanding the language differences between the English used in the sixteen-hundreds versus modern English. My other primary sources included excerpts of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, as well as John Ingram’s original Flora Symbolica, published in 1869. Each primary source gave me different valuable information, some relating to symbology in literature, some to floriography and poetry, and, of course, in Natura Exenterata, the medicinal uses of flowers and herbs. I gained insight into the culture of different periods, especially surrounding the influences of botanicals on society.

The second goal was to fully comprehend and reiterate the general idea of a source in a clear and effective manner, which I accomplished with each of my annotations. Reading through each source was a time-consuming process, but condensing the general idea of books and research papers proved to be an even more difficult challenge. Occasionally, I came across lengthy sources that were easy to describe and summarize, but for the most part, I had to determine what parts were most relevant and attention-grabbing, as well as give a general idea of what a reader might come across if they chose to explore the source I annotated. Some of the texts, especially primary sources, were difficult to understand as they utilized English that was unfamiliar or different from modern English. When reading these, I had to familiarize myself with terms that I had not encountered before and research language differences in order to fully comprehend what I was reading. 

​Ultimately, this assignment helped me better understand how to comprehend difficult information and find ways to explain that information clearly and effectively. Analyzing and interpreting research is something I will be doing extensively throughout my career in wildlife conservation and is a valuable skill to have in all aspects of life. Information literacy is something that I have had the opportunity to use in most, if not all, of my classes here at SPCC—and fortunately, thanks to the repeated practice and exposure to reading, understanding, and communicating sources, I feel my skills have significantly improved in a number of ways.