Article Difficulty Scale


NO Points - the article does NOT meet the minimum page requirement (4 pgs) or if it does the majority of the pages are pictures.

Level 1

    The article is intended for a general audience with little or no science background. It contains very little content and is intended to be a brief overview of a current topic.
    The article is a summary of another  longer article.

    Some examples of magazine that have articles in this category - Time, Newsweek, Science News, National Geographic.

Level 2

    The article is written for a scientifically knowledgeable individual.
it can an overview of a topic with but contains sufficient upper level content.
    Some examples of magazine that have articles in this category - Discover, New Scientist, and National Geographic.

Level 3

    The article's main focus is to impart in-depth content knowledge on an individual topic or to give a comprehensive overview of a scientific topic.
    Some examples of magazine that have articles in this category - Scientific American, New Scientist, Discover, Sky and Telescope, Astronomy, and National Geographic.

Note that most science magazines have articles that cover a wide range of topics and difficulty. National Geographic is a perfect example of a magazine that offers all three levels of difficulty. So there are NO hard rules that such and such a magazine's articles are all at a certain level.

    If you have a question let me see the article in advance. If you happen to pick a very difficult scientific journal article I might give you a 4 for difficulty. However these articles are often too difficult for the student to write a good summary.