Magazine Summaries
Feature magazine articles are articles that are chiefly expository or descriptive and not narrative. The feature
article makes a general point about its subject and develops that point with specific information.
Magazine summaries should be:
 From a magazine article that is CURRENT and at least 1500 words .
 Written in blue or black ink or typed.
 Written on only one side of a sheet of paper.
 250 words or more.
 Double spaced if typed.
 Numbered and stapled if they are more than one page.
 No more than one article from the same magazine title; no more than one article from the same issue. No
more than three article summaries will be accepted in the same week.
REMEMBER:
 Do not copy from the article. Quoting is not desirable in a summary.
 Since article summaries are so short, it is necessary to get the point quickly and stay on topic. You will
have to summarize 1500 or more words into about 250. Read the article all the way through at least once
before beginning to write the summary.
 Supply an MLA citation at the top the page (remember to indent the second line):
PRINT:
Greenwald, John and Jane Salazar. “Slicing Up the Sky: An Account of Airline Mergers and Dust-ups.” Time. 22
January, 2010: 52-55.
ONLINE:
Gregory, Sean. “Usain Bolt: Person of the Year.” Time. 16 Dec. 2011. Web. 01 Jan. 2012.
Articles can be taken from websites, but they must meet the word count. Be sure to include the correct MLA
works cited citation for on-line sources.
Periodicals
These magazines are acceptable for article reviews. If you would like to summarize an article from a source that is
not on this list, bring the article to me/e-mail the article for approval several days before the summary due date.
The Metro library’s periodical budget has been cut in half this year, so not all of the magazines can be found there.
All can be found on-line or at public libraries. I do not recommend making photocopies of the articles—this may
lead to unintentional plagiarism.
African Arts
American Biology Teacher
American Heritage
American History Illustrated
Architecture
Better Homes and Gardens
Black Collegian
Black Enterprise
Business Week
Computers and People
Contemporary Literature
Crisis
Discover
Ebony
Education Digest
Essence
Gentlemen’s Quarterly (GQ)
Harper’s Bazaar
Harper’s Magazine
Journal of Health Education
Kiplinger’s Personal Finance
Ladies Home Journal
Mademoiselle
Nation
National Geographic
New Yorker
Newsweek
Phi Delta Kappan
Outdoor Life
Popular Mechanics
Science
Scientific American
Smithsonian
Sports Illustrated
Time
US News and World Report