ANT316 - South Asian Archaeology
H. Miller, Fall 2004
Critical Article Review: Content & Format
(from a model provided
by R. Lohmann)
Pick
four of the articles listed on the class web site (Link
to articles for review). Submit
your choices in the order of interest, including your email address, and
I will assign one of the articles for you to review. You must bring a copy of the
article(s) assigned to you to class no later than Oct. 12, so I know
that you have found it.
You
are expected to actively and critically read your assigned article,
taking detailed notes as you go. Prepare an
800-1000 word (3-4 pages, 12 point font, typed double-spaced) review
of the article and a 5-minute verbal summary of the most important points
of the article. To receive a good mark, your
essay must conform to the style specified on the article review guide
below. Your review will be assessed for clarity,
completeness, conciseness, and originality of thought.
Article
Review Presentation
On
the day specified, you will have 5 minutes of class time to succinctly
communicate to the class a summary of the main points (questions and thesis)
of the article, thoughtfully emphasizing those parts that relate to the
general topic for the day, and comparing them to the day's class readings. Though you will certainly use your written critical
review as a guide in preparing your presentation, be aware that your presentation
should not be identical to your written review, because it serves a different
purpose and has a different audience. Note
that your presentation should address the class as a whole and not just
the instructor. You may want to include comments and questions made during
discussion in your final written paper.
My
assessment of your presentation will be included in the final mark given
for the written report.
Please
practice your presentation in advance, so you keep to the 5 minute time
period, as I will have to cut you off if you run over time. You will not be able to use PowerPoint or any elaborate
visual aids for this presentation, given the time constraints. However, you are encouraged to write an outline of
the main points you will present on the blackboard.
If a map or other visual aid is necessary, please arrange in advance
to have me make an overhead.
Some
exam questions may include material drawn from the article review presentations.
Written
Critical Article Review Guide
The
written paper is due the week after your presentation. Remember
to turn in two copies of the article review.
Heading: As follows, at the top of the first
page. Do NOT use a separate cover sheet.
Full
citation for article being reviewed (using the American Antiquity format specified
for
all
bibliographic references for this class).
YOUR
NAME
Date
due, Class
Text
of your review: This should begin
with an introduction that states the main question(s) and thesis presented
by the author, and end with a conclusion that summarizes your analysis
of the article, including its contribution to the general topic or time
period. Both should be short - a paragraph
each, since you only have a few pages for the review.
Your
review text should include the following:
(1)
An introduction, in which you begin with a striking statement about
the topic of the article, to excite and draw in the reader (not something
obvious, gratuitous, or inaccurate like "since the beginning of time,
humans have wondered about the stars"), and provide an overview
of the main question(s) and thesis of the article (which will be given
in full in section 2 below).
(2)
A summary of the article, including the article's:
a)
topic (the general area of inquiry--what the article is about)
b
question(s) (that which the author sets out to answer in writing the
article)
c)
thesis (the author's main point(s) or assertion)
d)
) issue (the tension between two or more ideas that may be in conflict
on which the author takes a stand -- some articles
will not have this)
e)
evidence (the facts that the author mentions to support his or her thesis)
f)
argument (the way the author links the evidence together to convince
the reader that his or her thesis is correct).
**Your ability to discern the main
question(s) and thesis of your author is a central part of your mark
- so do not ask me to tell you what these are. This
is often the difference between an A and a B. However,
if you are having trouble with this after considerable thought, please
do come see me during my office hours, and we can discuss it Ð some
authors do a better job of making their main thesis clear than other
authors.
(3)
Your analysis of the article, including
a)
a fuller exploration of your thesis statement that presents your
evaluation and opinion of the article. This
thesis should take a stand that is more developed than a simple declaration
of whether you "liked" the article or not. See
below for more hints on this.
b)
Specific evidence (possibly including short quotations) from the article
or other class readings that illustrate your points about its strengths
and weaknesses.
Basically,
your analysis examines the assumptions or presuppositions of the article's
argument; evaluates its validity, strengths and weaknesses; and makes
clear your position in relation to the author's.
You will need to ask yourself some of the following questions as
you think about the article: What assumptions
does the author make, and what evidence does he/she use? Do you agree with those assumptions and evidence? Why or why not? How
does the truth or falsity of the assumptions and evidence affect the validity
of the argument? Where is the argument weakest,
and where is it strongest? Does the conclusion
logically follow from the argument? Does the
author have any "blind spots" or commit any oversights?
Keep
in mind that you can like a writer's basic argument and still be critical
of parts of it. Likewise, you can disagree
with a writer's conclusions, but admire his or her argument. In such a case, make clear why you agree with
some parts and disagree with others. Working
out exactly what you like and dislike, what you agree and disagree with
in an article puts you in a dialogue with its author and establishes you
as an authority in your own right. You have the
power to agree, disagree, or tackle what the author says just as you would
in a conversation with friends. The most important
thing to remember for this assignment is this: your argument about the
article will be the most important and interesting part of your paper,
although not necessarily the longest part.
(4) A conclusion, in which you sum up your position
on the article (section 3 above), and indicate its contribution to the general
topic or time period.
Bibliography:
Give the full citation of all references mentioned (other than
the article itself, which is already listed at the top of the paper). Use the American Antiquity style (employed in your syllabus
bibliography). Unlike
a topic paper, you will probably have very few references.
Citations
in the text: Remember,
direct quotes from your article must be in "quotation marks", followed
by the page number in parentheses (p.3). For
quotes from other works besides your article, include the authorÕs
surname, the year, and the page number referenced.
E.g. (Miller 2001:21).
References to specific sections or paraphrases of particular ideas
of the author, even if not direct quotes, must also be cited in the
same way, giving the page number.
References
to the topic of other works in general should be cited with just the
author's surname and the year. For example: There has been considerable
debate about the political structure of the Indus civilization (Kenoyer
1998; Possehl 1998).
Style: All
of your writing should be concise and to the point - delete all unnecessary
sentences, such as "Since earliest times, humans have used stone tools." Cut to the essence: "This
article summarizes the state of knowledge about the Palaeolithic of
northwestern Pakistan as of 1995." Naturally,
I will take points off for incorrect spelling, missing words, and poor
grammar.
TIPS
on Reading, Writing, and Finding the Thesis
Q:
What is the thesis of a piece of writing?
The
thesis of a book or a paper is the central point to which all of the
facts and opinions are appended to convince the reader to agree with the
author. A thesis is a proposition that is maintained
by argument and evidence. Books and articles
may not state their theses explicitly, or may have several related theses. To find the thesis you as the reader need to think
about what the piece as a whole is saying in the most general way,
and state it in your own words in a sentence or two.
Any
essay you write at university, including this article review, needs
a thesis. Your paper needs to go somewhere,
it must not just be a list of facts. The
facts that you do include need to be there for a reason: they provide
evidence for your thesis. An important part
of revising early drafts of your paper is searching for sentences and
paragraphs that are tangential, and which are not relevant to your thesis. Cut them out. If there
is a hole left behind, you need to find relevant evidence to fill in
your argument. Never hand in first or second
drafts that you have not meticulously revised for accuracy, logical
consistency, and errors of spelling and grammar.
Catching errors is easier if you read your paper aloud to yourself
or a friend.
Q:
How can I figure out what my thesis is?
Having
done your reading, you may have a thesis in mind from the start. In this case, write your thesis first, and then proceed
to build your paper around it. Sometimes
your thesis will not be completely clear to you until you have spent
some time writing and thinking your way along through your first draft. Then, summarizing your own paper can help you find
your thesis. By looking over your rough
draft (which you must complete before your oral presentation), you can
see what general point seems to underlie what you are writing. You may find more than one, or see that the point
you were trying to make doesn't hold up. In this
case you need to remove some parts of your essay or think about a better
way to focus your paper. In a way all writing
is summarizing--deciding what to include or exclude.
Part of this decision depends on your purpose, your audience,
and how much space you have. Your thesis is,
in a sense, the most boiled down summary of your paper that is possible,
and will usually be one sentence (but no longer than a paragraph) in length.
Q:
What is meant by "argument" in writing?
An
argument consists of facts or statements put forth as evidence--a reason
to accept the writer's thesis. All papers
must have an argument, but this does not mean that you are necessarily
attacking the work of others; rather you are presenting a flowing, logical
stream of information to back up your thesis. An
argument is a course of reasoning aimed at demonstrating truth or falsehood. It is the connections drawn between the bits of
evidence that demonstrate your thesis. Connections
are many, and the one you are interested in may not be obvious. A successful argument identifies relevant bits
of evidence and those elements that are indicative, and connects these
with each other for your reader. Just as math
professors ask you to show your work, in writing you need to show your
reader the course of your thinking that led you to your conclusions. Don't assume that your audience is thinking the
same way you are--you have to lead them by the hand without being patronizing.