Rubric for Article Summary Final Draft

Rubric for Article Summary Final Draft (40 points) Principles of Ecology, BL / ENVS 402 Fall 2009

As stated in the syllabus, this assignment requires you to choose one article from the journal Ecology concerning any aspect of ecology. This journal is available in the Dayton Memorial Library in print form. The article you choose must have a Materials and Methods section; therefore, review articles and notes are not acceptable. Your summary should be no longer than five pages and provide a brief description of what was done, what was found, and what does this mean for ecology as a science. You should include the reference for the article and a copy of the article itself.

Content (15 pts., 3 pts each) You correctly interpreted Why the authors did what they did What they did What they found What it means in the broader context of science You added a paragraph of your own interpretation / thoughtful criticism of the article

Organization (9 pts. 3 pts. each) All paragraphs have topic sentences All paragraphs pertain to topic Sentences flow in a logical order pertinent to topic

Style (9 pts. 3 pts each) You completely avoided exact words of the author anywhere in the paper You completely avoided direct quotations of text from the article You made substantial and thoughtful changes to your r.d. at the suggestion of your editor

Grammar and spelling (4 pts. 1 pt each) Affect versus effect is used correctly, but sparingly because you are specific Data ARE plural All scientific names are italicized with genus name capitalized, e.g. Homo sapiens No spelling and/or grammar errors, including verb tense and subject plural agreement

Format (3 pts. 0.5 pts. each) No cover page (this wastes paper, and is not necessary) Page numbers on each page One inch margins on all sides Font is Times New Roman in 12 point Complete APA reference of article is included after the text in Literature Cited section You included both a copy of the article AND a copy of your graded rough draft