ELI 162
Guidelines for Your Reading/Writing Journal

The Reading

1. Find a textbook or periodical related to your field.
2. Choose a chapter or article that interests you and photocopy it. If you are using an Internet article, print it out. Remember that it must have a bibliography to count.
3. Write the bibliographic reference on the photocopy. It will look something like this:
   For an article - Clinton, W. (1996). Why I want to be President. Famous Magazine, 17 (2), 25-27. [17= the volume; (2) = the issue; 25-27= page numbers]
   For a book - Clinton, H. (1996). It takes a village. New York: Famous Publisher.
4. On the photocopy, circle the main idea. Then, highlight the important points as you would if it were material for one of your classes.
5. Turn in your highlighted photocopy when the journal article is due.

The Summary

1. Put as the Subject in your e-mail message, say 'Summary of' and the title of your reading.
2. In the body of the message, begin with the bibliographic reference. It will look something like this in your e-mail message:
   For an article - Clinton, W. (1996). Why I want to be President. _Famous Magazine_, _17_ (2), 25-27. [17= the volume; (2) = the issue; 25-27= page numbers]
   For a book - Clinton, H. (1996). _It takes a village_. New York: Famous Publisher.
   Notice the use of underlines before and after the title in an e-mail message to show that the title is underlined.
3. The summary should be about one-fourth the size of the original article. It includes none of your own opinions-- you are reporting as accurately as possible that author's point of view, not yours, in a summary. (The critique is the time to put in your two cents' worth.)
4. Mention the author's name and the title of the reading somewhere in your summary.
5. Make sure you've given the main idea and only as many details as are necessary to make the author's point of view clear.
6. Read through your summary before you send it and paraphrase any places where you've used the original writer's words.

The Critique

1. Put as the Subject in your e-mail message, say 'Critique of' and the title of your reading.
2. Mention the author's name and the title of the reading somewhere in your critique.
3. The critique is where you respond to what the author wrote the way you might discuss a topic with someone in person
   • You can agree or disagree with the content and say why.
   • You can talk about what you found surprising or hard to believe.
   • You can discuss the way the information was presented -- whether it was easy or difficult to understand, how it was organized, the quality of the graphics, etc.
   • You can talk about something the article reminded you of, such as a similar situation you were in yourself or what your friends or relatives in your country might say about a similar topic.
4. You can have any opinion you like about the reading, but you must be understandable and give reasons for what you say about it.

Grading

1. Turning in an article in your field that is at least five pages long
2. Circling the main idea
3. Highlighting the supporting details

1. Putting the bibliographic reference in the right form
2. Writing a good summary
   • you include the author's name, title, and main idea
   • you include only the most important details
   • the summary is well-paraphrased, without plagiarism
3. Writing a good critique
   • it's clear that you've thought about what you're saying
   • your critique is a response to the author--you connect your opinions to the author's point of view
   • you give reasons for your opinions

Feedback

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Provide some comments about your experience in working through this exercise (e.g. I need more information, this is easy, etc.) Please be sure to give some brief explanation of your comments.

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