Assignment:
You will select an article or report on a subject that is somehow related to public transportation. I am quite flexible about what counts as public transportation. You may find articles about new technologies, proposed systems, social issues related to transit use, policy and funding issues, etc. Your article should be recent (preferably within the last few months or year), and you may look in newspapers, magazines, journals, or online. There are two restrictions: 1) you may not choose a wikipedia article; 2) you may not choose an article that has already been posted by someone in the class.
You will write a summary and discussion consisting of the following parts:
1. Write a paragraph summarizing the important points of the article. Think of this as preparing a 250-word abstract that covers the who? what? where? when? and why? This should be written in your own words, so please do not copy-paste the abstract out of a journal paper.
2. Write at least one paragraph critical analysis or discussion of the issues raised in the article. You may relate the subject of the article to concepts that we have discussed in class. You may think of this as an essay on what you think are the important lessons, implications, or challenges that the article brings up and your thoughts about them. You may also think of this as a critique of opinions or the point-of-view expressed in the article. The important thing is that this should reflect your critical thinking on the subject.
3. Prepare a list of at least three discussion questions related to the article. These should be open-ended questions that would foster a class discussion of the topic, not reading-comprehension questions that would quiz us on the details of the article.