Education homework help. Assignment Description – Journal Article Summary
Planning the Summary
The goal of the assignment is to review and summarize an article from a scientific journal (e.g., IEEE
Spectrum, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, Energy and Environment, EE Times, etc.) for a generalist (nontechnical) audience. You may optionally choose to review and summarize a conference paper. The
selected article should be related to engineering, and the article should be of a suitable length for creating
a 2 to 3-page summary (3-page maximum for the body text) using double-spaced, left-justified text. A
lengthy article will be difficult to summarize within the scope of the assignment. A highly specialized
article will be difficult to summarize for a generalist (non-technical) audience. The Library Research
Guide can help you find suitable scientific articles (the electronic link is provided in the Course Reference
Materials module on the Canvas course space). The assignment is due in the Canvas drop box by 6:00
PM on Friday (5-8-20). Samples of this assignment are available in the Sample Assignments module on
the Canvas course space.
Creating a Written Summary
The format (visual appearance) of the summary should consist of double-spaced and left-justified text
using an appropriate font size and style. The form (organization) of the summary should include a brief
introduction to the topic to provide context, a summary of the main points/key details of the article,
followed by a brief conclusion to bring closure to the summary as outlined below (do not use the words
Introduction, Body or Conclusion as headings in your summary). Headings are not required for this
assignment. The style (tone and formality of the writing) should reflect a formal, scientific tone, avoiding
the use of contractions, colloquial expressions, and unnecessary use of first-person references (I, me,
my, we, ours, us) and be written to a generalist (non-technical) audience.
• Title – State the title of the article at the top of the page (Do not use “Journal Article Summary”).
• Introduction – Begin the summary with an introductory statement (approximately one or two
sentences) describing the subject and scope of the article to provide context for the reader.
• Body – Summarize the main points presented in the article. Create a brief outline that identifies
the major points discussed in the article. Use your outline as a guide for writing your summary.
After each major point is added to your summary, write a transition statement to smoothly move
from one major point to the next. Add an appropriate amount of detail to each major point to
provide sufficient clarity for the reader. Omit, synonymize, or define any concepts, terminology,
or units of measure as appropriate for a generalist (non-technical) reader.
• Conclusion – Bring closure to your summary by providing a forward-looking statement regarding
ongoing research efforts, possible future applications, or evolutionary path of the technology.
• Evaluation – In a separate paragraph, provide your assessment of how well the article conveyed
the information to its intended target audience using clear, concise and well-organized discourse.
Evaluating the Article
The evaluation section should contain one paragraph that describes how well you feel the article
conveyed the information you summarized, noting specific examples that contributed to the success or
failure of the article in a particular area. Avoid overgeneralized evaluative statements (e.g., “The article
did a great job…). Consider specific aspects of the article such as readability (written to impress or
express, eloquent discourse versus awkward wording), organization (well organized and easy to follow, or
poorly organized and difficult to follow the author’s sequence of ideas), use of graphical information (wellchosen, properly sized graphics that clearly conveyed the information along with a strong connection
between the graphics and text), and use of quantified facts versus qualitative descriptions, etc.
Citing Additional Source Material
No in-text citations are required for this writing assignment unless additional sources beyond the article
being summarized are used to define terminology or explain a concept found in the article. However, the
full bibliographic citation of the article you summarized should be placed at the end of your summary after
the evaluation paragraph. The 3-page limit is for the summary itself. Using a fourth page for the article’s
bibliographic citation (or any other citations you wish to include) is acceptable. Any additional sources
cited in your summary (in-text citations and bibliographic entries) should use the IEEE citation style.
UCI School of Engineering ENGR 190W
Journal Article Summary Assignment Description – Spring 2020 Page 2 of 2
Submitting the Written Summary
After you have reviewed, revised, and finalized your written summary, upload the electronic file (Microsoft
Word .docx or Adobe Acrobat .pdf) to the Canvas drop box by the published due date shown above.
NOTE: Name your uploaded file using your first and last name (e.g., John Smith.docx)
Grading Strategy
The journal article summary will receive two grades. The first grade will reflect the writing style (formal,
scientific tone) and writing quality (grammar, spelling, diction, concision, etc.), along with proper use and
format of the IEEE citation style if any additional source material is cited in your summary. The second
grade will reflect how well the summary is adapted to a generalist (non-technical) audience. Overall, your
writing should use the writing concepts represented by the “4Cs” (clear, concise, complete, correct).