your bibliography.

For this assignment, you will continue to explore this topic by looking for information on jihād from three sources: one book (print or e-book), one internet source that you have found using a search engine, and a peer-reviewed journal. A peer-reviewed journal is another name for a scholarly journal and means that the articles in the journal have been read and reviewed by other independent scholars who are familiar with the subject of the article. This helps to ensure that the article is factual, accurate, and meets the standards necessary for being published.

Steps for Completing Assignment 3

• Read “A Brief Introduction to Conducting Research” in the link called “A Few Notes about the Assignments,” which is available from the course home page.
• Search any university library database (it does not necessarily have to be the Athabasca University Library Catalog) to find one scholarly book and one article from a peer-reviewed journal related to the term jihād. Some databases that are useful for research in Religious Studies can be found in allied disciplines such as History, Anthropology, Philosophy, and Sociology. The tutorial for searching journal databases can be found at: http://library.athabascau.ca/JournalTitleListTutorial.html.
• Find one internet source related to the topic of jihād. It can be absolutely anything.
• Write a short essay that analyzes the content of your three sources and how they are similar and different from each other. Four to five double-spaced pages (1,000–1,250 words) of well-written prose should be sufficient. Your essay should cover the following points although they do not have to be necessarily in this order.
• The thesis or major argument (if any) made by the author in the source. Make sure you give specific examples from your source and be sure to cite them properly.
• The perspective of the author on the subject. Is there a distinct bias or perspective exhibited in the author’s work, or does the author analyze the subject from a particular historical or theoretical perspective?
• What are the similarities and differences between the perspectives taken by the authors you are analyzing?
• What type of audience do you think each author is writing for?
• Given the nature of the analysis, which source do you think is more reliable and is trustworthy enough to be used for your own research? Make sure you describe why you think one source is more reliable than the others you have looked at for this assignment.
• Be specific in your examples from the sources you use, and make sure you cite your sources.
• You must use the Chicago Manual of Style “Notes and Bibliography Style” for your citations and your bibliography.