Analysis of Scholarship -- critiquing a scholarly article from the Western Historical Quarterly

You must select your article from the JSTOR database (may be accessed through the Stewart Library or from an on-campus computer). TIPS: use advanced search -- then limit your search to articles from the Western Historical Quarterly.
The article must cover an event, personality, or development that occurred in the modern American West,
The article must be at least 20 pages long (i.e., 20 pages of text).
The article cannot be a book review.
The article’s date of publication must be after 1990.

Your short (2-3 pages) paper should include:

A complete citation of the article following the standards for history (Chicago Manual of Style) Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations.

You should then construct your paper around:

The main purpose of this article is . . ./The key question that the author is asking is . .
The most important information in this article is/concerns . . Identify the facts, data, or resources the author uses to support his/her argument. To expand on this statement you will have to look at the foot or endnotes.
The main conclusion[s]/inference[s] in this article is/are . . .Identify the key conclusions the author comes to and presents in the article.
The main assumptions underlying the author’s thinking are . .Think about what the author is assuming to be true and what might be questioned.
When writing this article, the author’s point of view may have been influenced by . . .

It is important to remember that historians are influenced by events that occurred during the time when they wrote. For example, historians writing in the 1950s tended to be very proud of America and its history. During the 1960s that pride turned to criticism and even anger. Perhaps finding more information about the author might help you respond to this topic.

*The statements are an adaptation from The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking Concepts and Tools by Richard Paul and Linda Elder.