Write an article reflection

Over the course of the term we will be reading eight scholarly articles on the topic of technology in the workplace, and eight more on the topic of diversity/inclusion in the workplace.  Each week, we'll ask you to choose the article you were most interested in and prepare a written reflection on that article in order to better structure our class discussion.

Steps to follow

1. Read both articles for this week, and carefully and take notes.  You should always read a scholarly article thoroughly at least twice.  The first time through, read quickly to understand the overall topic, the specific arguments and evidence, and the flow of the author's logic or narrative.  The second time through, read more slowly to note any useful concepts or terms, any key claims or arguments, and any points where the author seems to nicely summarize their thoughts.  Also note any ideas you don't quite understand or names which aren't familiar!

2. Pick one of the two articles for this week to reflect upon in detail.  You may write your reflection on the article that you were most engaged with; or, you may choose to write your reflection on the article that confused and frustrated you the most!  Either way, you only have to write a reflection on one of the two articles each week.  

3. Pick out one specific part of the article to reflect on.  These reflections are most effective when they are focused.  You might hone in on one particular example or piece of evidence in the article that surprised you -- or that you find yourself questioning as dubious.   You might narrow in on one particular argument that the author is making, one that you find yourself agreeing or disagreeing with most enthusiastically.   Or maybe there's a particular quote or description in the article that stuck with you.   One good way to think about this is to try to pick out what you think is the "MIS" of this article -- the "most important sentence."

4. Write a one-paragraph reflection suitable for sharing.  Now write a paragraph about why this particular excerpt from the article is worthy of wider discussion.  Does it raise a particular question that you'd like to pose to the course?  Does it resonate with something in your own experience that you don't think others would have shared?  Does it connect with another course you've taken at UW-Madison, either supporting or contradicting what you thought you'd already learned?  Detail your article reflection in a way that would be useful for other students to understand and would spark more discussion.  This reflective paragraph must be longer than a sentence or two!

5. Post your paragraph to the text discussion board.  Go to the Discussions page of this web site and find your section's discussion board for this particular week.  Use the "Reply" feature to add your comment to this text discussion board.  (While you're there, read through the other student comments so far and see if any of them had a similar reaction to yours -- if so, mention that in your reply!)

Notes on this assignment

On the weeks where it is your turn to prepare a four-minute speech on one of the articles, or where it is your turn to prepare an author dossier on one of the articles, you may skip this reflection assignment!