Critical analysis – jihad a+

While being able to find information on a particular subject through library or internet sources is important, it is equally important that you have the ability to compare your sources and discern what information is reliable and credible. The goal of your third assignment is to hone your critical skills by engaging in an exercise that requires you to read and evaluate information on a given topic that comes from a journal, a book (print or e-book), and an internet source.

We have seen briefly in the readings about the many shades of meaning associated with the term jihad. For this assignment, you will continue to explore this topic by looking for information on jihad from three sources: one book (print or e-book), one internet source that you have found using a search engine, and a peer-reviewed journal (attached). A peer-reviewed journal is another name for a scholarly journal and means that the articles in the journal have been read and reviewed by other independent scholars who are familiar with the subject of the article. This helps to ensure that the article is factual, accurate, and meets the standards necessary for being published.

Then, do the following:

Search the Library catalogue, a journal database, and a search engine (such as Google) for your information. You may find this tutorial on boolean searches from the Library to be useful in helping you to learn how to construct searches that enable databases to find your sources more efficiently.

 

Provide a full bibliographical citation for each source using Chicago Style. Use the “Notes and Bibliography” style, not the “Author-Date References” style.

 

Write a short essay that analyses the content of your sources and how they are similar and different from each other. Three to four double spaced pages (750-1000 words) of well-written prose should be sufficient. Your essay should cover the following points although they do not have to be necessarily in this order.

The thesis or major argument (if any) made by the author in the source.

The perspective of the author on the subject. Is there a distinct bias or perspective exhibited in the author’s work or does the author analyze the subject from a particular historical or theoretical perspective?

What are the similarities and differences between the perspectives taken by the authors you are analyzing?

What type of audience do you think each author is writing for?

Given the nature of the analysis, which source do you think is more reliable and is trustworthy enough to be used for your own research? Make sure you describe why you think one source is more reliable than the others you have looked at for this assignment.

 

When you are using a book, you do not have to read the entire volume. Just focus on those parts of the book—like the introduction and conclusion—that give you an idea of the author’s thesis statement and the content that is contained in the book.

 

Citations can take the form of endnotes, footnotes, or in-text citations and bibliographies and can be formatted in different ways depending on whether or not you are in the Sciences or the Humanities. The most frequently used citation formats are MLA, developed by the Modern Language Association of America; APA, developed by the American Psychological Association; and Chicago (Chicago Manual of Style) developed by the University of Chicago.

For this essay, you must use Chicago Style for your bibliography and your citations. You can click on the University of Chicago Citation Quick Guide link athttp://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html for help with the citation format.

Note: Use the “Notes and Bibliography” style, not the “Author-Date References” style.