Guidelines/Rubric for Summary of Review Paper
Finding a Review Paper
Choose a subject that you like from the material that we covered in class: anything that stuck out to you as interesting, preferable about plants in some way but any scientific phenomenon that we went over is acceptable if it strikes your interest the most! Find a review paper that was written and published in a scientific journal by scientists and peer-reviewed. A review paper is different from a study in that it is bringing together information from many different studies done by scientists all over the world. The review paper discusses all of the latest research that has been done on that subject and creates a cohesive summary of all of the currently known information and discoveries regarding the subject matter
Here’s an example of how to narrow down your chosen subject matter and find a review paper:
Example: You know you like phloem, so you want to narrow down the subject to some particular aspect of phloem. Sieve tube elements and their companion cells work together within phloem, so maybe youd like to understand how they communicate and function together.
Do a Google Scholar or Library database search using keywords that describe the subject and make sure to use the search word “review” in a GoogleScholar search or choose the Review option on the database search so that you get mainly review papers.
Example GoogleScholar search: [Sieve tube elements companion cells communication review] Make sure you are looking for a review paper that is published in a scientific journal, it will have the word “review” in it somewhere on it and it will NOT have methods & materials or data analysis in it.
Next, read the review paper and grasp the information in a general way, not extreme technical understanding but understand the general concepts covered and what scientists have been studying and finding out about the subject you chose.
Next, write a summary about the information: what has been looked at by researchers, what has been discovered and what is still unknown (where are their gaps in knowledge where researchers need to ask more questions and do more studies?).
Check the rubric to make sure that your formatting etc. is within the guidelines and to see how points are distributed.
Submit to me before the end of the semester, I will have an assignment submission set up for it soon.
Rubric:
85 total points
Content & Development. 55 pts
Content is thorough and accurate
– Major research findings are stated clearly
– Writing is clear and summarizes major concepts in three sections:
– Introduction: Introduce the subject matter and its importance in our scientific understanding (why does the scientific community want to understand more about this?)
– Recent Discoveries: Summarize major recent discoveries
– Future Research: End with an observation of what is less understood or could use more research (according to what the authors have written about) and any questions that reading the paper has sparked that could be researched further
Organization & Structure. 10 pts
– Paragraphs flow into each other with connective concepts
– Concepts of the paragraphs are clear and easy to follow
– Succinct and scholarly in presentation
– no padding of paragraphs with unnecessary words or opinions
Format. 10 pts
Paper follows formatting and writing guidelines
– 12 point Times New Roman font, 1 inch margins
– student name, the date and our class name at top of first page
– title of the paper that is being reviewed written in APA style format under student name
Example:
Oparka, K. J., & Cruz, S. S. (2000). The great escape: phloem transport and unloading of macromolecules. Annual review of plant biology, 51(1), 323-347.
– Paper is appropriate in length 1 to 2 pages
– Use headings for the different sections
Grammar, Punctuation & Spelling. 10 pts
Correct grammatical construction and language structure
– free of typos, correct punctuation
– compound/complex sentences
– use of scientifically accepted third-person wording
– this means do not use any sentences that refer to yourself or your beliefs /thoughts /opinions in any way, refer only to the research itself in the context of relaying what has been found or what could be further explored
– clear, correct technical vocabulary (not highly technical, similar to what weve used in class)
Last Completed Projects
| topic title | academic level | Writer | delivered |
|---|