Article Assessments (15 points each)
To help you establish knowledge in an area, text, concept, or question that reflects your own interests, I will ask you to develop 2 assessments of “secondary” sources over the course of the semester, selecting from our supplementary reading lists, spare chapters in our required texts (ANGR, MV, or ROTA), or perhaps another source you have found that explicitly focuses on rereading or retheorizing a primary text, figure, or subject.
In spite of its brevity, your assessment should thoroughly address the source, providing a 1-2 page single-spaced summary, where you account for the writer's subject and methodology (organization, strategy, etc.), followed by a 1-page single-spaced analytic reflection on how that source (whether it is an article or a chapter) would shape someone’s reading if they read it before ever encountering the “primary” text, figure, or subject it discusses.
As part of your analytic reflection, you might consider how the author attempts both history and historiography in the space of a single argument—that is, consider how the authors re/construct narratives or enact specific methodologies while also drawing attention to the foundations on which their narratives and methodologies rest. Ideally, in either part of the assessment, you would mention 1 or 2 other sources in our field journals (or in related field journals) that you think could enhance the discussion your author takes up, discovering and articulating germane connections you think are worthwhile. The key word here is “discovery.”
MLA or Chicago style citations preferred, for listing your references and for parenthetical citations in text.
Think of these assessments as good critical tools for exposing others to sources they might not find time to read; in fact, I will compile all the article assessments as a set of class resources for us and for future classes.
While you may absolutely turn them in earlier, the first assessment is due no later than February 12, and the second assessment is due no later than April 8.
