Fields-Black’s Historical Accounts on Atlantic Rice farmers

Review Assignment
Being able to read a scholarly publication critically and absorb its contents is a vital skill for any researcher or writer. This assignment will offer a relevant article and require students to evaluate the contents. Students should consider what sources the publication uses - are they oral or archival, and where were they gathered - and the author's relationship to the material he or she has published. Major debates which relate to the articles should be identified and discussed within the review. The review must be 1-3 pages in length and correspond to an appropriate journal format suitable for an academic publication.
Value: 5% of course grade
Objective:
The academic world requires that scholars be able to engage with the thinking of their colleagues in a respectful manner, but be able to offer critical analysis where it is necessary. Reviewing material is an excellent way to better understand it as well as to engage with broader topics.
Learning Outcomes:
Recognize major contributions to research within scholarly publications
Identify and contextualize a given scholar
Demonstrate respectful analysis without hesitating to identify problems
Instructions:
Students will be provided with an academic article by Edda Fields-Black and must read, analyze, and contextualize it in a 1-3 page review. An appropriate style sheet will be attached indicating the journal style which will be adhered to for this assignment, to closely mirror an actual review process.
Style Guidelines (from the Journal of West African History: http://jwah(dot)msu(dot)edu/submissions/)
Length: Review essays (not exceeding 1,000 words) should engage the interpretation, meaning, or importance of an author’s argument for a wider scholarly audience. Justification for shorter or longer reviews should be discussed with the Book Review Editor prior to submission.
Style: Head your review according to the Chicago Manual of Style, as follows:
Header format: Title Author City, State: Publisher, Year.
Header Example: Achieving Blackness: Race, Nationalism, and Afrocentrism in the Twentieth Century Algernon Austin New York, NY: New York University Press, 2006.
Include your name and affiliation at the end of the review. Double space your document, with an extra space between paragraphs (rather than indenting each one). For transliteration questions see below. For style questions not addressed in these guidelines, follow the Chicago Manual of Style.
Transliteration: General Guidelines
If there is an English word for a foreign term, please use it. Foreign terms not found in a standard dictionary (e.g., http://www(dot)merriam-webster(dot)com/) should be italicized and fully transliterated according to the appropriate system (see below). However, italicization and transliteration are not necessary for the following: 1. Foreign words found in a standard dictionary, 2. The names of heads of state and similarly well known individuals, and 3. Well known foreign organizations (e.g., Hamas). Foreign titles should be italicized and transliterated (e.g., däǧǧazmač), unless they can be found in a standard dictionary (e.g., sheikh). Use italics for foreign currency terms. Foreign language quotations, long or short, should not be italicized but should include quotation marks.