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last.updated 5.12.05

 

Article Review


Purpose


In addition to the readings that you will be assigned, this assignment gives you the opportunity to expand your own and your peers' scope of writing in the disciplines. Furthermore, both the acts of reading an article and writing the review will give you further opportunities to think through the course content.


Instructions

Epistemological Process

Begin this project by choosing a academic peer-reviewed article about an issue related to the course content; you are encouraged to work with a text related to your other inquiries. Consult the various sections of the resource page for suggested journals. Articles may also come from other topic specific journals, edited collections, and scholarly book chapters. You are strongly encouraged to...

  • choose a topic that interests you
  • choose a topic most related to your i quiries in this course
  • find articles that a fairly recent or seminal in the field

If you are having problems finding an article, consult the instructor.

Once you have found an article, read it carefully paying close attention to the author's argument and evidence.

Writing

After you have read the article, you will write a 500 word review of the article. For the review genre, the writer...

  • provides a citation (APA or MLA) of the text
  • briefly summarizes the text focusing on the argument and how it is supported
  • briefly discusses how the text may or may not be useful to your research
  • briefly gives her or his overall opinion about the quality of the article's argument and presentation

Since your peers are the primary audience for this review, you will want to consider their interests and knowledge. Remember that this review is meant to potentially be a resource for their own inquiries. Provide sufficient information about the article so that your peers have a good sense about whether they should adopt the source for their investigations.

You will ultimately submit the review to the Blackboard Discussion Board on the designated due date by 6pm. However, you can post your review to a personal webpage or blog and submit the URL (http//...) to the class discussion board.

Presentation

On the day that your review is due you will give a 10-15 minute presentation at the beginning of the class. For this presentation, you will cover the same points you do in the review (i.e., argument, support, opinion), but you will elaborate on the last two points. You will also talk about the applicability of this article to a specific workplace (e.g., education, business, military).

For this presentation, you can use visuals, such as PowerPoint or handouts, to illustrate your the author's point or make your own point.

Presentation Schedule

Week & Date Presenter(s)
Week 2, 5.24.06 Larry, Erin
Week 3, 5.31.06 BC, Linda
Week 4, 6.5.06 Denise, Ashley
Week 4, 6.7.06 Jessica, Tanya


Criteria

Logistic:

  • 500 words for the written submission
  • 10-15 minutes for the oral presentation
  • due on the assigned day (see above)
  • 50 points

In addition to the general evaluation criteria, the instructor will be looking for evidence of...

  • a sense of audience–do you present the article both verbally and orally so that your peers understand the content? do you provide enough information to assist your audience's understanding of the reviewed article? do you make it relevant to them? do you demonstrate how it is relevant to you?
  • an understanding of the text reviewed, as well the disciplines that this course covers
  • an understanding of the review genre
  • an ability to stimulate interest, as evidenced by discussion
  • appropriate use of conventions, including APA or MLA citation formatting
  • a professional persona