Critical Summary

Instructions
1. Select two different assigned readings (articles).
NOTE: These articles have been chosen and can be located in the attachment box.

Provide a critical summary of BOTH readings. What did you learn? What did you find interesting? Did the author(s) introduce any new or specialized terminology? Is it clear the author is in favor or
against a particular topic? How was it beneficial to family studies? Each critical
summary should be at least a FULL two pages, so four pages total for both
readings. If it is a little longer, that is fine. Be sure to apply
terms/concept(s) from the Modules, and/or the slide presentations.
Use at least two direct quotes with citations (ASA style) from an
academic source (such as text, module slides, or me) per response to
support your points. You may also relate the topics to your personal lives,
current events, and/or class lectures. Write one summary, then the next,
then include your reference page. It is all one paper, but the discussions are
separate. No late work is accepted. You must upload the entire paper as
ONE attachment file under ASSIGNMENTS. The attachment must be
Microsoft Word, Microsoft Works, PDF, or Word Pad (RTF) format. I
cannot open Mac files (Pages), so you will have to convert it. Turnitin
will check for plagiarism, so DO NOT COPY FROM THE INTERNET!
2. Papers must be typed. Use a standard 12 size font in either: Tahoma, Times New
Roman, Courier New, Calibri, or Arial. The paper must be double spaced.
3. Put your heading (name and such) in the header of the paper – you do not
need a cover page. Put page numbers at the footer of the paper. Before each
summary, write the title of the article and the author’s name/authors’
names.
4. Be sure to reference the author you directly quoted, even if it is from the
textbook or lectures. You should have a page at the very end called
“References”. Feel free to quote things I have said as well. You only need one
reference page. Wikipedia and Dictionary.com are not academic sources
– you do not need to use them. The only sources you need for this
assignment are your class notes, slides, and/or textbook. Follow the
American Sociological Association format for “Citations in Text” and the reference
page. Do an Internet search for “ASA style guide”.
5. When writing formally, avoid using contractions (can’t, don’t, won’t). Use the
full versions (can not, do not, will not). Do not use slang such as “cool”. Spell
out smaller numbers (twenty instead of 20). Do not end sentences in
prepositions (with, for, by, along, in, out).
6. Make sure you break your work up into paragraphs. Do not submit one long
paragraph for each response.

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