Critical Appraisal of Historical Lifestyle Articles: A Detailed Report

This report presents a critical appraisal of three lifestyle articles sourced from National Geographic History magazine, focusing on Zarathustra, the ancient Maya cities, and Jack the Ripper. Each article is evaluated for its research methods, results, and discussion, highlighting both strengths and weaknesses. The appraisal of the Zarathustra article explores the teachings and rituals associated with the prophet, while the Maya cities article examines the use of modern technology to uncover ancient civilizations. The Jack the Ripper article delves into the unsolved mystery and the police investigation. The report concludes by summarizing the validity and usefulness of the research presented in each article, providing a comprehensive overview of their historical and cultural significance. Desklib provides more such solved assignments and past papers for students.

Critical Appraisal
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Topic: ZARATHUSTRA: Fiery Prophet of Persia.........................................................................3
Evaluation....................................................................................................................................3
Research methods........................................................................................................................3
Results..........................................................................................................................................3
Discussion....................................................................................................................................3
Topic: HIDE AND SEEK: Ancient Maya Cities Exposed..............................................................4
Evaluation....................................................................................................................................4
Research method..........................................................................................................................4
Result...........................................................................................................................................4
Discussion....................................................................................................................................4
Topic: UNSOLVED MYSTERY: The Bloody Case of Jack the Ripper........................................5
Evaluation....................................................................................................................................5
Research method..........................................................................................................................5
Result...........................................................................................................................................5
Discussion....................................................................................................................................5
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................6
References........................................................................................................................................7
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Introduction
The paper will introduce the critical appraisal of the three topics based on lifestyle article. The
focus is towards the strength and weaknesses of each of the article. The primary objective is to
evaluate the research, find the research methods and results as well as discussion of the article.
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Topic: ZARATHUSTRA: Fiery Prophet of Persia
Evaluation
The research is based on the teachings of the Fiery Prophet of Persia Zarathustra who strongly
believes in Faith and Fire. As per (Marchand, 2016), the research article provides the answer to
this questions such as 1) Does Zoroastrian rituals still exist? , 2) Why the rituals are followed?
The Gathas which spreads the faith affected the development of the ancient tradition in Iran. It is
mentioned through the qualitative study that some of the rituals of Zoroastrian has extremely
modified with the change in the lifestyle. It is observed that the main players in the article is the
Zarathustra and the Persian community who strongly follow the Zoroastrian rituals. The theme
for the publication must be the teachings of Zarathustra.
Research methods
The topic of the particular article is ZARATHUSTRA: Fiery Prophet of Persia where the
qualitative method is used. Various research lifestyle articles are appraised due to the crisis of the
knowledge obtained regarding Prophet Zarathustra. The study critically appraises the lifestyle
article which utilizes the magazines from the national geographic history. As noted by (Kiel,
2015), the researcher finds out the facts from the compilation namely Avesta which comprises of
12,000 pages. The story reflects the chronological structure, the tone and pace of the voice is
used in the Persian language.
Results
The research proceeds with the explanation of the history of Zarathustra which became clear as
the impact of the monotheistic faith that affected the other religions which cannot be avoided.
The research also describes the Holy Fire which is an everlasting flame that is considered to be a
sacred and rich symbol mainly for the Zarathustra followers. The researcher describes the fact of
the everlasting burning of the fire in the temple which is the proof that the Persian community is
still following the rituals to a great extent.
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Discussion
In this particular lifestyle article, the researcher states the history of the dominant religion that
was established in ancient Iran at the time of teaching provided by the founder, of Iran
Zarathustra. As mentioned by (Saboorifar, 2017), the teaching was based on the one good god
namely Ahura Mazda. The research depicts the life of Zarathustra well as the Gathas which
mainly focuses on the faith which is outlined by the Zoroaster. The article could do better by
showcasing the future perspective of Zoroastrian rituals in the community. It helps the audience
to know the teachings and rituals of the Zarathustra in the modern age. As mentioned by ( Kiel,
2015), the feature engages the audience by making them think that would the Persian community
will follow the rituals in the future. The similarity of this article with the next two is the factors
that influences the main content are provided in detail. Whereas, the dissimilarity is that this
article is based upon the incident that happened three thousand years ago whereas, the next two
articles are based upon the incident that took place in 18th century.
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Topic: HIDE AND SEEK: Ancient Maya Cities Exposed
Evaluation
The major barrier of the Maya world is the thick growth of the jungle surrounding most of the
cities. Where Briton and American comprise of the 19th-century techniques researchers states
that the National Geographic is utilizing the technology of the 21st century to expose the great
scope of the Maya cities in Central America. As per (Robin, 2016), researchers mentioned that
these cities are vastly populated as well as in reconnected than any other cities. The characters
that are discussed in the article is the two archaeologist’s and their efforts to showcase the Maya
cities in 1840’s. The change is recognized as the implementation of modern techniques instead of
the old techniques in order to expose Maya cities. Also the change in the population is the factor
that brought change in the Maya cities.
Research method
The research was based on the qualitative method from the book that was published by Stephens
on 1884 for which Catherwood chose 25 different colors of lithographs. The researcher
mentioned that the book consists of the engravings of Fredrick Catherwood which added visual
attractiveness and detail information related to Maya citifies. In other words of (Simova, et al.,
2015), also the researchers have utilized quantitative method by lidar survey of the 800 square
miles of the digital and reserve under the vegetation canopy to reveal the underneath structures.
In this article the chronological structure is utilized, and the tone of voice is used in common
language.
Result
The survey exposed the glory and the natural way of understanding the Maya cities along with its
people. The findings state the perfect relationship between the two archeologists in making Maya
cities flexibly exposed to the world. As per (Cucina, and Tiesler, 2014), a result of this a
magnificent world has been exposed to the terracing, quarries, highways, and pyramids as well
as irrigation systems. Researchers have evaluated the interconnected community of five million
to fifteen million instead of the isolated cities surrounded by the rainforest.
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Discussion
The research is mainly related to the exposure of the Ancient Maya Cities which is referred to as
Hide and Seek. From the research, it is founded that two archaeologists namely Frederick
Catherwood and John Lloyd Stephens in 1840s introduced the world with the glory of Maya. As
noted by (Robin, 2016), the article could do better by showcasing the Stephens publication which
gave more knowledge regarding Maya cities. It helps the readers to know more about Maya
cities and about the technologies that will be implemented in these sites. The feature engages the
readers by making them to think of the fact that how the Maya cities will be exposed by using
modern technologies. The similarity of this article with the next two is that the author has used
captivating images as well as thrilling words to reveal the beauty and the complexity of the
ancient Maya cities, also the data and facts are used to evaluate the population of the areas in
order to determine the factors that affect the jungle. The dissimilarity is that the article is based
on a particular city while the rest of the two articles are entirely based on a human factors.
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Topic: UNSOLVED MYSTERY: The Bloody Case of Jack the Ripper
Evaluation
According to the researchers, the strength of the article is that the investigation is carried out by
two police forces. The researchers state that the London Police have done a tremendous job, by
taking photographs of the case victim. As per (Burnip, 2017), researches it is observed that
people criticized the police for not offering rewards to the one who will catch Ripper. Also, the
police forces are not adequately doing their job. The various question arises about the case such
as 1) Did the police took the matter seriously? 2) Why is the evidence lost? The characters that
are discussed in this article are Jack the Ripper, the murderers, five women of Whitechappel and
the suspects. The change is identified as the suspects who are unknown to the world are now
detected by the police department.
Research method
The research method is based on the qualitative method as it utilizes the more than hundreds of
nonfiction books, various novels, multiple series in the television and more than 20 movies. In
the case mystery there arises a particular discipline namely ‘Ripperology’ which is based on the
complete research of the theories and the case related to the murder. As per (Burnip, 2017), the
article is based upon the dramatic structure, and the tone of voice used is the common language.
The article is based on Unsolved Mystery: The Bloody case of Jack the Ripper where the author
have explained every character in an organized way and in brief.
Result
Results depict that the detectives are constantly searching for the real name of Jack the Ripper
who 1888 haunted the Whitechapel streets. As mentioned by (Hitt, 2016), the five culprits have
been detected by the department of the Metropolitan Police's Criminal Investigation in 1890 with
the help of fingerprinting. According to the researchers, the identification of Jack Ripper will be
discovered one day, and this aspect remains a serious issue.
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Discussion
The research article states the brutal murders of the five women of Victoria. However, the killers
are still unknown to the world. It is believed that the case is not solved by the police while the
individual officers were highly involved in the case. The role of the department of Metropolitan
police is commendable, as they have identified the culprits. After so many years passed by the
case remains fascinating to the people. The article could do better by providing the data and facts
related to the case which would have been easy to understand the views of the common people. It
helps the reader to identify the suspect of the Ripper case. The feature engages the audience
making them to think of the suspects and the real name of Jack the Ripper. The similarity of this
article with the other two is that the article came to a final conclusion as shown in other articles.
Whereas, the difference is that the in this article the author has utilized various sources to discuss
the issue of the unsolved mystery that helped to understand the things more efficiently which are
not used in other articles.
Conclusion
The above research concludes the lifestyle article of three topics taken from the national
geographic history magazines. The research questions based on the topic were discussed in the
study which gave an idea of whether the researches of the article are valid and are useful. The
result indicates the outcomes from the article based on the investigations.
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References
Burnip, R., 2017. “Reason Run Riot”: Holmes and the Ripper in A Study in Terror and Murder
by Decree. Journal of Popular Film and Television, 45(2), pp.101-113.
Cucina, A. and Tiesler, V., 2014. Mortuary pathways and ritual meanings related to Maya human
bone deposits in subterranean contexts. In The Bioarchaeology of Space and Place (pp. 225-
254). Springer, New York, NY.
Hitt, J., 2016. Forty Whacks, Forty Winks: Lee-ann Wilber's Crime-Scene Bed and
Breakfast. Virginia Quarterly Review, 92(1), pp.14-19.
Kiel, Y., 2015. Abraham and Nimrod in the Shadow of Zarathustra. The Journal of
Religion, 95(1), pp.35-50.
Marchand, S., 2016. Dating Zarathustra: Oriental Texts and the Problem of Persian Prehistory,
1700–1900. Erudition and the Republic of Letters, 1(2), pp.203-245.
Robin, C., 2016. Neither dopes nor dupes: Maya farmers and ideology. Ancient
Mesoamerica, 27(1), pp.221-230.
Saboorifar, F., 2017. Mazdakism and its historical principals. Revista QUID, 1(1), pp.2478-2483.
Simova, B.S., Mixter, D.W. and LeCount, L.J., 2015. The social lives of structures: ritual
resignification of the cultural landscape at Actuncan, Belize. Research Reports in Belizean
Archaeology, 12, pp.193-204.
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