Academic Journal Article Review Guidelines URBS150 FA14

1. Make sure you know what a journal article is before you start. Consult your CSUN librarian if you have questions. Remember, CSUN subscribes to all kinds of academic databases, not to mention many hard copy journals that can be found upstairs in the Oviatt Library near the Course Reserve section. Explore what the university has access to as a first step. No newspaper articles, magazine articles, or other pieces plucked from the internet, that may not have been peer-reviewed, can be used as the source for this review.

2. Read the journal article and take careful notes.Take note of the journal article’s title, the author or author’s names, and where exactly this piece was published. This information must be at the top of your completed review.

3. Start your review with a TWO page summary of your chosen journal article. 12 point font, please, and double-spaced.

4. Identify the particular issue or issues that this article focuses on. Again, you must clearly summarize AND explain this issue in great detail. If you cannot understand your chosen article then please choose another one.

5. For the next part of your review you must analyze the author’s strategy in dealing with this particular issue. How does the author address the topic and to what degree is it discussed? What does the author assume you know? What is the author’s discipline or area of expertise?

6. How does your article’s chosen issue connect to the focus of our class? Show how your article’s issue is not an isolated aspect of urban life. Make the connections to other key issues. (If you don’t understand this, please ask me for clarification!) Be specific. Don’t be vague.

7. Is your author’s treatment, analysis, and explanation of this particular issue done well? Explain why or why not. Is the author using language or terminology unfamiliar to you? If so, use other resources to understand the meaning of these terms.

8. For the final part of the review you’ll need to provide your own insights on the issue(s) in the journal article you have chosen. Keep in mind that I’m not interested in your opinion, only your informed and educated analysis.

9. Lastly, write a clear conclusion that re-states your evaluation of the issue and how it is presented and analyzed by journal article’s author. This conclusion should identify, in short summary form, the key points you’ve already made in the review.

Suitable topics to look for in journal articles:

Gentrification, Social Space, Urban Sustainability, Homelessness, Tourist Spaces, Urban Enclaves, Emerging or Developing Cities, Shrinking Cities, Special Economic Zones, The Neoliberal City, Megacities, Squatter Settlements, Sprawl, Suburbanization, Primate Cities, LGBT Communities in Cities, Borderplexes, Community Organizing, Urban Design, Deindustrialization, Urban Fragmentation, Common-Interest Developments (CID), First-Ring Suburbs, Redlining, Restrictive Covenants, The Walking City, Edge Cities, Zoning, Transit-Oriented Development (TOD), New Urbanism, Metropolitan Expansion or Contraction, Environmental Justice, LULUs, Ecological Footprint of Cities, The Right to the City, Mass Transit, Highways and Cities, Pedestrian and Bicycle Planning