What you will do to complete this exercise:
Find a professional research (scholarly) journal article that presents research on some topic in geography that has been published between 2016-2107. If you are unsure on how to search for an article, see the D2L handout on Scholarly Journals MSU Mankato and How to Find Scholarly Journal Articles, come to office hours, orask the MSU Memorial Library reference librarians for help.
Review and summarize the research presented in the article including the methods used and the results. See the D2L handout on Suggestions for Reviewing Journal Articles.
Background Information and Requirements
The article that you choose must be published in a refereed (scholarly, peer reviewed) research journal. Articles submitted for publication in refereed journals are reviewed by other scholars and are subject to revision or rejection. This process attempts to insure that only reliable, high quality research results are published.
Commercial magazines and trade journals are not suitable for this assignment. Commercial magazines such as National Geographic, Scientific American, and Geo World pay their staff or hire guest writers. Even though these magazine articles may contain good scientific information, they are not subject to the rigorous process of peer review.
If the article does not have references cited within the text and a list of these cited references provided at the end of the article, it does not fulfill the requirements of this assignment.
If the source you are using includes numerous color glossy photographs, chances are it is a commercial magazine, not a research journal. Please check with me, or a librarian, if you are not sure about your source.
You should also be aware that many professional journals contain portions that are not research summaries. Your article cannot be an editorial, a book review, or any other general article review. Again, if you are not sure about what you have found, please ask for help.
Summarize the research in your own words by describing the main points discussed in your chosen article. This could include such things as unique methodology, new theories, results, discussion of controversy, etc. What did they do, where, and why? Be specific! See the D2L handout on Suggestions for Reviewing Journal Articles.
List at least two questions that you have about your article. These could include basic assumptions that you don’t understand or don’t believe; or questions about the methodology or any theories or results generated by the author(s).
From all the references cited in your article, pick one that you would most like to read and briefly explain why. Why do you think it is cited in your article, and why would you chose that particular reference? This means you will have two sources in your reference list and you will need to cite both of them within your summary text.
Attach a pdf copy of the first page and reference list from your 2016-2017 article. The first page should include the abstract, title, and authors. If your article has more than one page of references, you only need to print the page that includes the reference for the cited article that you would like to read. Do not print these pages from any type of article summary format—you need to download a pdf version of the article and print from that!
Format Details
No page limits, but you should have a minimum of two double-spaced pages, a 500 word minimum, plus your attachments. Use the proper required format for our exercises
Needs help with similar assignment?
We are available 24x7 to deliver the best services and assignment ready within 3-4 hours? Order a custom-written, plagiarism-free paper

