Explain the primary topic that the article addresses.

Parameters
Using the academic database JSTOR, students will submit an annotated bibliography containing five articles pertaining to the Crusades in the Middle East. Each article should be properly formatted according to the model below, and should include a sentence or two describing the article’s focus (you can be really brief here; you just need to explain the primary topic that the article addresses). The broad idea with this assignment is to produce an annotated bibliography that someone who is conducting research into this subject could use as a starting point for gathering materials. Your submission need be no longer than a page or two in length. It must use a twelve-point font, and must have one-inch margins.
Please be certain to choose articles that are relevant to the Crusades in the Middle East, and please avoid both book reviews and articles that are very old (age is subjective, of course, but please try to find articles published within the last 50 years). Finally, please choose AT LEAST two articles by any of the following leading historians of the Crusades: Jonathan Riley-Smith, Christopher Tyerman, Steven Runciman, and Norman Housley.
Please complete your Annotated Bibliography in a .doc format file, and submit it as via the Annotated Bibliography Assignment. If your word processor cannot save files in a .doc format, you can copy your assignment into the Comments box in Assignments.
Format
Please format the citations according to the Chicago Manual of Style as follows (JSTOR will provide you with all the necessary bibliographic information, though you will need to rearrange it a bit):
Brown, Peter. “A Dark-Age Crisis: Aspects of the Iconoclastic Controversy.” The English Historical Review, Vol. 88, No. 346 (Jan., 1973), pp. 1-34.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/562564.
This article examines the Iconoclasm controversy that rocked the Byzantine Empire in the 9th century.
Please note that you do not have to get the citation format perfect (i.e., I will not deduct points if you miss a period or if you put the author’s last name first), but please try to format it according to this model as best you can. Note, as well, that you can copy the citation in the proper, Chicago Manual of Style format by choosing the Cite This Item button in JSTOR.
Instructional Video
I recommend that you view the following instructional video before you begin the assignment.
Instructions
Open JSTOR. You can access JSTOR by going to the PCC Library home page, choosing ‘Databases A-Z’ under the Research heading, and scrolling down to and selecting the JSTOR database.
Once you have opened JSTOR, you will want to do the following for each of your five articles.
First, search for articles using appropriate search strings such as ‘First Crusade,’ ‘Riley-Smith, Jonathan,’ etc. Remember that you must find articles that are less than fifty-years old, and you must find at least two written by one of the following historians: Jonathan Riley-Smith, Christopher Tyerman, Steven Runciman, and Norman Housley. As you also want to avoid book reviews, I recommend that you use the ‘Advanced Search’ option; it allows you to select a box that will limit your search results to articles.
Second, find an article with a title that appears to be appropriate. Be sure to avoid articles with titles that clearly deal with modern-day issues or that pertain to Crusades outside the Middle East.
Third, when you have found an appropriate article, select the option to see the PDF of the full article. Skim over the first few pages to ensure that it is appropriate, and to get a sense of the article’s focus.
Fourth, once you have determined that the article is appropriate, copy and paste the bibliographic information into your word processing document. The easiest way to do this is to choose the ‘View Citation’ option under ‘Tools.’ You can then copy and paste the information into your word processing document, and rearrange it to conform to the bibliographic format demonstrated earlier in this document. Please note that JSTOR has an export feature, but it does not work well with word processing documents.
Fifth, Write a sentence or two of annotation that details the subject of the article and its potential utility to someone researching the Crusades. You do NOT need to read the entire article to do this. Rather, simply skim over the first few paragraphs to get a sense of the article’s focus.
Sixth, when you have provided the bibliographic citation for all five articles and have proofread your work, please submit it as a .doc file via the Annotated Bibliography Assignment.