(Latest revision 01/03/2000)
ARTICLE REVIEW ASSIGNMENTS
YOU WILL BE WRITING REVIEWS OF FOUR ARTICLES
You need to independently develop an understanding of the
hardware and software issues important to networking. To
foster your inquiry into these topics, I am assigning you to do
four reviews of articles on various aspects of networking.
WHERE TO LOOK FOR ARTICLES
You can find materials for the reviews in our Vasche library
and in other libraries. Consider journals such as the
Communications of the ACM, the IEEE Computer magazine, and
other ACM and IEEE publications.
Be careful to choose objective, quality articles. If you bring
a candidate article to class, I'll be glad to look it over.
The magazine or journal you choose must be a reputable
periodical. It must have an identifiable title, editor, and
date of publication. A reputable periodical will publish only
articles that have been reviewed and accepted by the editorial
staff.
ARTICLE SELECTION CRITERIA
Here are some examples of the kinds of article that could be
appropriate:
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A thorough comparison of networking products -- either hardware
or software,
-
A discussion of advances or trends in networking hardware or
software,
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An article containing advice on how to design a network or how
to upgrade the design of a network,
-
A discussion of social or ethical issues that relate to
networking, or
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A critique or commentary on the current state of networking.
The items above are just examples. Other possibilities exist,
of course. The main idea is to select an objective,
high-quality article that is likely to teach you something
valuable.
Choose material that you can understand. It is alright if you
don't understand a few parts of an article, but you must
understand most of it.
Substantial credit will be withheld if the choice of article is
inappropriate for this assignment. Newspaper articles, mere
product announcements, and "hype" or "sales talk" are examples
of inappropriate articles.
ARTICLE LENGTH
The length of an article must be no less than two thousand
words. One thousand words will completely fill a page in a
typical magazine, leaving no room for headlines or
illustrations. Therefore you will almost certainly need to
choose an article that spans at least three pages. Substantial
credit will be withheld if your article is too short. (If you
like, ask me how I estimate the length of an article.)
THE FORMAT OF YOUR REVIEWS
Use a word processor
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Double space the review on standard 8-1/2 by 11 inch paper.
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For the main part of the document use a font size from 10 to 12
point.
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In a header that appears on all the pages, enter your name,
class identifier (CS 3000), the due date, and the serial number
of the review (e.g. review #1 or review #3). If you ask, I
will demonstrate in class how to create headers and footers
using MS word and/or ClarisWorks. Space the content of your
header so that there is at least 3/8" of vertical space between
the bottom of the last line of the header text and the top of
the first line of text on any page of the main document. Make
the font *style* (e.g. courier or helvetica) of the header the
same as that of the main text. Make the font *size* of the
header two point sizes smaller than the size of the main text.
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Center the title of your review at the top of the first page
but below your header. The title of the review must be
different than the title of the article, but must reflect the
content of the article. There must be at least 3/8" of
vertical space between the bottom of the title and the top of
the first line of the rest of the main document. Make the font
*style* (e.g. courier or helvetica) of the title the same as
that of the rest of the main text. Make the font *size* of the
title two point sizes larger than the size of the rest of the
main text.
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Justify the left margin (only).
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Indent the first line of each paragraph.
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Set the left and right margins to 1-1/4 inches. Set the top
and bottom margins to 1-1/2 inches. (Here, by "top margin" I
mean the distance from the edge of the paper to the top of the
first line of the text body. Thus I view the header as being
*inside* the top margin. The bottom margin is the distance
from the edge to the bottom of the last line of the text body,
and the footer is *inside* the bottom margin.)
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Number all the pages. Put the page numbers in a footer that
appears on all pages. Space the content of your footer so that
there is at least 3/8" between the bottom of the last line of
text in the main document and the top of the first line of text
in the footer. Make the font style and font size of the footer
the same as that of the header.
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Start each review on a new page, even if you will be turning in
two or more reviews at the same time.
THE CONTENT OF YOUR REVIEWS
In your reviews:
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Cite the editor of the periodical, the title of the periodical,
the date of publication of the periodical, the name of the
author(s) of the article (if available), and the title of the
article. (The *only* optional item is the name of the author
of the article. The article is not acceptable unless you can
cite the other items.),
-
Include a short summary of the article. (no more than 3
paragraphs),
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Give an explanation of why you chose the article (e.g. what did
you hope to learn?),
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Discuss what you gained and learned from the article,
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State what further questions you now have concerning the
subject of the article,
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Explain any new concepts or terminology that you discovered,
and
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Report any other interesting outcomes.
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The length of a review must be more than one page and less than
two pages. You must turn in a copy or photocopy of each
article along with its corresponding review. Staple the
article copy in back of of the review. Do not staple together
multiple reviews.
THE DUE DATES OF YOUR REVIEWS
Check the class schedule for due dates.
HOW TO TURN IN AN ASSIGNMENT
Turn in the assignment in class on the due date or on any class
day before the due date. Put your paper on the desk before
class starts.