You must choose a current historical, academic article concerning the Antebellum Era to review. This means that you should find an article no older than about 1980. Even that is ages ago in terms of academic interpretation. You are best served to find an article published since 1995.
What are some historical journals? There are many some of the better ones are the American Historical Review, Journal of Southern History, and the William and Mary Quarterly.
JSTOR is a great resource for historians. EBSCO and ERIC will be helpful, too.
Remember, an academic journal article is usually about 25 pages long. It is NOT a book review or a magazine article.
As you begin writing the Review:
Place a complete citation of the article at the top of the review. Use Chicago to cite the source. I will count off points if you do not include this citation!
Within the first paragraph, you should state the author’s name, title of the article, and some bit of biography about the author. Where does he teach? What is her specialization? Other works published by this author?
The review should be double-spaced, as are all academic papers.
Your article review should be written for a bright reader but one who is not familiar with this this topic.
You should include two or three paragraphs that cover the content of the article.
But the remainder of the article review should be your CRITICAL ASSESSMENT OF THE IDEAS AND ARGUMENT BEING PRESENTED BY THE AUTHOR.
Some questions that will help you to get at the ideas and arguments in the paper:
What is the central argument (thesis) of the paper?
What evidence is given that proves this thesis?
How does this paper fit into the bigger historiography? (the wider literature on this topic.) Usually the author will cover this near the beginning of the paper, telling how their argument fits into the arguments made by other historians.
You will want to look at some of the other articles and books in the historiography—how do they compare with this historian’s argument? You’ll want to cite these in your paper and mention briefly how they compare. Again, your author will have done the grunt work for you. In virtually every article, a historian will have told the reader how their argument compares with the *historiography on the topic.
Then review the writing and clarity of expression. Has the author used grammar and syntax that has made the paper an easy read? An engaging read?
Conclude with a brief overall assessment of the paper.