Goals
- to practice technical reading and writing
Overview
For this assignment, you'll practice writing a technical summary
of a technical article.
You'll read one of the selected articles
and write a two-page summary of it that also includes how the article's
information is or is not relevant to your team project.
Your classmates are the intended audience.
What to Read - Design Patterns
Go to the JavaWorld Design Patterns column page ( http://www.javaworld.com/columns/jw-java-design-patterns-index.html )
where you will see several articles written
by David Geary in 2002 and 2003.
You should read one of those articles other than
Make your apps fly (I handed out part of that already),
Simply Singleton, and the introductory
Amaze your developer friends ....
If you choose to write about one of the three articles in the previous sentence,
you will earn a zero on the assignment.
You should not choose the same article as your teammates. I'd prefer that team members choose distinct articles. That will aid your team in understanding more design patterns as you develop your project. You may choose two articles and compare the design patterns presented.
Read the article. Understand it. Understand the design pattern it describes and why Geary used the examples in helping you understand. Think about how it could be used in designing your project. Perhaps it doesn't apply. Consider why it doesn't.
What to Write
Write a two to three page summary of the article including how the
article's design pattern is or is not applicable to your team project.
Your intended audience is colleagues with your
classmates' level of technical expertise.
That means you can assume that the reader is familiar with Java,
design patterns, and UML.
Aim for two pages of text.
Don't copy the author's words or code examples. You may include up to two diagrams from the article.
Include bibliographic information with entries in the order of reference. Use [1] to refer to the first entry which should be the article you are summarizing.
Your writing should be clean and crisp. You should proofread and edit it. Check the spelling and then read it again. Perhaps trade papers with your teammates to proofread. Consider their comments. Improve your paper.
I prefer an 11-12 point serif font with a 1.5 line spacing and 6 point spacing between paragraphs. Use an inch margin all around. Include your name. However, make your paper easily readable rather than focus on particular fonts and spacing.
Grading Rubric
Content is important, but this is a writing assignment.
Refer to the grading rubric on the back of this page which is
adapted from Sheftman.
The revisions are that content totals 20 points and language use totals 15 points.
Also, imaginative use of language is not appropriate while defining and using
appropriate technical terms is.
Collaboration
This assignment is to be completed on your own.
It is NOT a group assignment although helping each other in
proofreading is allowed.