For many of you, this is the first time you have to read an academic journal article. For many of you, this may be your first time writing a review. This page is created to help you read a scholarly article and to write a successful review. Below is a step by step guide that you should follow to complete this task. If you hate reading instructions, you can watch my video at the bottom of the page.
Academic Journal Articles are written by scholarly historians who have received their doctorate degree from an accredited University. Many of these academic journal articles are not written for the average person, instead intended for the history professionals. The information in the AJA helps to better understand specific details about history. The AJA can be extremely difficult to read because of the intellectual vocabulary.
This semester you will be reading 3 academic journal articles and writing a review for each one. The first thing you must do is select an AJA from the list. Please consider picking an article that might peak your interest. The page numbers vary from 18 pages to 50 pages. Just because an article is shorter does not mean it is an easier read. For this reason, you should pick an AJA that is on a topic you find interesting.
Once you have selected an article you need to start reading it. This will generally take 3 hours, but not more than 5 hours. You should also consider looking up words that you do not understand because of the intellectual vocabulary used by the authors. The goal is not to understand the entire AJA. The goal is to understand about 60% of the AJA.
After you have completed the reading you need to prepare to write a two-page double-spaced review.
A review is NOT a research paper.
A review is NOT a summary.
A review is NOT a reaction.
A review is a historian's way of telling the audience about what useful information can be found inside of the AJA. You may include features of a summary and be a little reactionary, however, you specifically need to include the following elements,
The author’s purpose in writing the article
The author’s main thesis
The author’s challenging of other historical viewpoints
The evidence utilized by the author (specifically identify three primary sources)
Identify key details and specific analysis from the AJA (instructor is looking for a minimum of three insightful and specific takeaways from the article)
Personal likes/dislikes and how could the author make the work stronger?
The recommended audience for the article?
Explain how this article contributes to understanding the history of the United States.
Suggested reading, movies, museums, websites to accompany this work (not required, but helpful)
The writing style for a review can be done in various ways. Some students prefer to write in the first person to display a connection with the reader. Other students prefer to write in a professional tone in the third person. Either way is fine. The review is not graded on personal style, but rather that all of the elements of the AJA guidelines are included in your review. Please be sure you write in essay format with multiple paragraphs.
If you would like to see what other students have written check out the sample essay: Sample Essay
I love creativity, however, if you want a rigid format to follow please consider the 5 paragraph essay for AJA reviews guide below.
First Paragraph: Begin with an example of your positionality. This can be done in several ways. You could describe how this AJA directly relates to you and/ or why you chose to pick this AJA. You should also include the title of the AJA and the author(s). If you cannot think of your own positionality, describe the background and education experience of the person who wrote the article.
Second Paragraph: In this paragraph you should identify the purpose, thesis, and three specific primary sources utilized.
Third Paragraph: For this paragraph, identify three specific key details, vignettes, anecdotes, WTF moments of history, or anything else you see as important to provide some takeaways and analysis of the AJA.
Fourth Paragraph: This paragraph is all about your critical analysis. What did you like about this AJA? Specifically what did you like in regards to the structure, writing format, and primary sources? Additionally you should provide critique and demonstrate how this AJA could be improved.
Fifth Paragraph: In the last paragraph you will need to say why this is important to understanding American History and the target audience (people who could/should read or receive the information in this article).