(
rev:
Feb 06, 2017
)
ARTICLE REVIEW ASSIGNMENTS
YOU WILL BE WRITING REVIEWS OF THREE ARTICLES
You need to independently develop an understanding of the hardware and
software
issues important to computer networking.
To foster your inquiry into these topics, I am assigning you to do three
reviews of articles on various aspects of computer and data networking.
WHERE TO LOOK FOR ARTICLES
You can find materials for the reviews in our CSU Stanislaus Vasche library, or
other libraries. Consider magazines and journals such as
(You can probably find some interesting titles and abstracts using the links above.
You may even be able to access the full text of some articles.
However, your main resource for accessing full texts of articles should be
this CSU Stanislaus Library portal.
Try an actual trip to the library. Search through journals and
magazines you find there. Online chat with a librarian is also available
via the portal.)
You must choose objective, quality articles published
within the 12 month period prior to the due date of the review.
If you bring a candidate article to me during office hours, I'll be glad to
look it over. The magazine or journal you choose
must be a reputable periodical.
It must have identifiable
author(s), title, editor(s), and date of publication.
A reputable periodical will publish only articles that have been reviewed and
accepted by the editorial staff.
WHAT IS A PERIODICAL?
DEFINITION: A periodical is a serial publication issued two or more times a
year. Examples would be quarterly, monthly, and weekly publications.
A fairly common student mistake is to assume that articles from the proceedings of a
yearly conference, or articles from other publications that appear less frequently than twice per
year are periodicals. They are not.
ARTICLE SELECTION CRITERIA
Here are some examples of the kinds of article that could be
appropriate:
-
A thorough comparison of networking products -- either hardware or
software,
-
A discussion of advances or trends in networking hardware or software,
-
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
-
A critique or commentary on the current state of networking.
The items above are just examples. Many, many other possibilities exist, of course.
The main idea is to select an objective, high-quality article that is
likely to teach you something valuable about computer networks and/or internets.
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 articles that are inappropriate. If
you choose such material, you are aiming too low. However, you should not aim
too high either. Choose material that you can understand. Otherwise you won't
learn anything.
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
Neatness counts. Use a word processor
- Double space the review on standard
8-1/2 by 11 inch paper.
- For the main part of the document use a font size from 10 to 12 point.
- 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 (review #1, review #2, or
review #3).
If you ask, I'll try to demonstrate in class how to create headers and footers
using MS Word and/or Apple Pages.
Don't allow headers or footers to be "crammed" up against the rest
of the content on the page.
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. So, for example, if your main text is size 12, then
use size 10 in your header.
- 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. (So
on the first page, there's going to be the header, then a 3/8-inch gap
between the bottom of the header and the top of the title,
then the title, and then another 3/8-inch gap between the bottom
of the title and the top of the rest of the text on the first page.)
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. (So if the main text is size 12, then make the
title size 14.)
- Justify the left margin (only).
- Indent the first line of each paragraph.
- Set the
- left and right margins to 1.25 inches.
- top and bottom margins to 1.5 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.)
- 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.
- Start each review on a new page, even if, for some reason, you turn in more
than one review at a time.
THE CONTENT OF YOUR REVIEWS
In your reviews:
- Cite the:
- editor of the periodical,
- title of the periodical,
- date of publication of the
periodical,
- name(s) of the author(s) of the
article, and
- title of the article.
The article is not acceptable unless you can cite all these items.
- Include a summary of the information in the article.
(maybe two pages);
- Give an explanation of why you chose the article (for example, what
did you hope you would learn?);
- Discuss what you gained from, learned from, and/or valued about the article,
- Discuss some further questions you can now ask concerning the subject of the
article, or related subjects;
- Explain one or two novel ideas from the article; and
- Report any other interesting outcomes.
- The length of a review must be more than two pages and not more than five
pages. You must turn in an easily readable 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 podium before class starts.