J.A

Chapter: Chapter 1 - Defining Terrorism Article Title: “Terrorism” Chapter 1 of the text goes into much detail about defining terrorism and the types of terrorism. What exactly constitutes terrorism and why does it seem so complicated to define? This article from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI, 2021) defines terrorism as a "contested term, with no set definition for the concept or broad agreement among academic experts on its usage " (para. 1). Is it really that difficult to define? It’s a word and as such it should just be in any old dictionary or textbook glossary and boom there's the definition. Is it more complicated than that? To answer my own question, yes, it is very complicated. But at least I’m not alone in the complicatedness of defining terrorism as it seems like the FBI is having problems too. The article notes that “the recent spate of extremist attacks in the United States and Europe have highlighted the difficulty of defining what constitutes ‘terrorism’” (FBI, 2021, para. 2). Here, The FBI focuses on recent examples extremism to attempt to answer the question, even giving the readers an account of some of the recent terroristic attacks and how the relate to terrorism and extremism. By the end of the article the question remains unclear and unanswered, making this task of defining terrorism that much more confusing. The pro of this article is that there were some real-world examples. These help show the complicated nature of defining terrorism. The article would have been more interesting if there were some frontline details, like the definition from the FBI’s perspective, especially given it’s the leading legal enforcement mechanism in the country. Words: 270

Reference

Federal Bureau of Investigation. (2021). What We Investigate: Terrorism. Retrieved from

https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/terrorism

Commented [JW1]: When citing from a webpage, you must count the paragraphs and include a para. citation.

Commented [JW2]: Note how the quote within a quote appears: " ' ' " And note the citation here follows the quote since the source was not mentioned before the quote.