Article Review

Karen Bridges

Mount San Antonio Community College

This assignment is used in both introductory level Earth Science and Oceanography classes. Articles complement topics discussed in class.

Since the articles complement a physical process or concept covered in class, students must have a good understanding in order to effectively evaluate the value of the article.

Stand alone exercise.

The idea is to give students the opportunity to connect class concepts to a "real" situation. The goal is for students to learn the results of various processes discussed in class and see their effects outside the class.

To receive full credit, students must no only summarize the articles but analyze the methods and conclusions given. An analysis (either critical or complementary) is required and must be supported with evidence from the article while drawing on knowledge learned in class.

Certainly, this is an opportunity for students to practice clear, careful writing outside of an english class. It is also a chance for students to freely think about a topic, knowing that their opinion of the article is not graded--they just need to support their conclusions.

During the semester, students must complete two article reviews. They are required to summarize and critically evaluate a recent article pertaining to a topic in Earth Science. Articles may include topics such as global warming and ocean water chemistry, magnetic field wander, hurricane formation from popular science magazines to peer reviewed articles. Students must, in their 2-3 page paper summarize the article, but the most important part I look for is their critical assessment of the methods and conclusions. They must draw examples from the article to support their positions.

I don't have a rubric for this one yet, though I have started working on one to make grading less subjective. Students earn points for supporting their positions with strong examples. Points are lost for distracting spelling errors or other evidence that the paper was not carefully written.