History 12070: U.S. History-Formative Period, Spring 2022
Article Review, 30 points, due Friday, December 16 (but can be turned in early).
Your task is to write a 5-paragraph article review of “Abraham Lincoln, John Pope and the Origins of Total War,” by Daniel E. Sutherland. A link to a PDF of the article can be found on Canvas.
No footnotes or bibliography are needed. You may not use more than 2 direct quotations—so choose them carefully, and they must be 2 lines long or less. Indicate the page number of the quotation with parentheses and the page number right after the quotation—for example (57) or (91), etc.
Your first paragraph will be an introduction: State Sutherland’s thesis first, and then use 3 sentences to tell me what his three main ideas are. Your concluding sentence (your thesis) should give your overall view of the article—weak, strong, mixed, however you feel about it.
Second paragraph: Tell me why you think Sutherland choose this topic, and tell me a little about the kinds of sources he used (analyze the footnotes).
Third paragraph: tell me the main strengths of the article, was anything particularly convincing?
Fourth paragraph: tell me the main weaknesses of the article, are there weaker areas in the argument?
Fifth paragraph: conclusion—justify your thesis. How convincing is the argument, and what did it teach you about American history?
This article is bit tougher to outline than the other 2—there are no handy extras spaces between the main ideas, you have to read carefully and look for signposts along the way. If you like, email me once you think you’ve identified the 3 main ideas, and I’ll let you know if you are on the right path.