Reading competing interpretations

Example.

Question:

Why did slavery end?

Historian A argues:

Moral abolitionism.

Historian B argues:

Military necessity.

Historian C argues:

Economic transformation.

A careful literature review does not simply choose one.

Instead, it asks:

• What evidence supports A?
• What evidence supports B?
• What evidence supports C?

Then it explains why the article agrees with one, combines several, or proposes a different interpretation.