Scholarly Journal Critique (5-page essay)

 

Students must demonstrate the ability to conduct academic research utilizing the resources of a research library.  This assignment will focus on locating and evaluating one specific History scholarly journal article and four different sources (newspaper, web site, government document, trade and/or popular magazine) based on a History topic, [provide choice of 7-10 topics related to course content]. The purpose of this assignment is to evaluate the content of a wide range of sources and to better understand the conceptual links and differences between each.

 

This is not a generic "research paper," but rather an essay focused on the evaluation of one scholarly journal article in relation to four additional sources of information.  The focus here is on the types of sources, similarities and differences between these sources, and the kinds of information you discover through each source.  The major requirements for this assignment are organized into two parts (with very specific questions):

 

Part I:

 

1. Locate one scholarly article in a History Journal (full-text online or in the library) and take the time to read the article closely and carefully. Then, compare this resource with the same topic area in four additional popular, trade and/or government resources, such as a newspaper, a popular or trade magazine, government document, web site, video, or web based multimedia or audio file.

 

2. Write about the content of the scholarly journal article in detail. This part of your critique must demonstrate that you read the entire articles and not just the abstract. What is the article about? What conclusions did the authors arrive at? Do you agree or disagree with these conclusions? Did the author fully support his or her ideas and conclusions?

 

3. Closely examine the Bibliography or Reference list included in the article (a scholarly journal article will include a bibliography or references; if your source does not have a bibliography or references list you need to find another article). Describe the references used by the author to write this article. For example, did the author refer to other scholarly journal articles, books, magazines, and/or web sites?

 

4. How would you describe the writing style of the article? Does the article have a serious tone? Is the writing intended for a specific or a general audience?

 

Part II:

 

1. Locate the same or similar topic in four different sources of information.

 

2. What are the popular, government, and/or trade sources about? How do these sources relate to the scholarly article? In your view what are the most obvious differences between the scholarly article and your popular, government, and/or trade sources? How would you describe the writing style of your additional sources?

 

3. Include a complete bibliographic entry using Turabian style for each resource.

 

4. Spell check and grammar check your document using a word processor.

 

 

 

Although you must address all of these questions in your essay, be sure to write a cohesive response in actual essay format (and not a Q & A format). Your essay should also include an introduction and a conclusion. Each student must locate his/her own scholarly journal article. Unintentional overlap may occur, but if we see a repetition of the same articles we will raise questions about research methods and this may impact your grade.

 

Students will have the option to revise and resubmit this assignment, but the first submission is an absolute requirement. Students who do not submit the first essay by the deadline will not have the option to submit a revision.