Here's the assignment:

Read three research papers.  They can be any three, e.g., papers read  
for other classes are fine; you can ask your other professors for  
suggestions if you like.  Turn in to me, on paper at the start of  
class, two things:

(1) A writeup describing how well you think the papers are written,  
esp. according to the criteria I presented in class.  If you think the  
paper is well-written in some way that does *not* adhere to what I  
presented, please say so!  That's even more interesting.  Your writeup  
should be at least a page (maybe the papers are really good, or are  
common in their good/bad structure) and no more than four pages (maybe  
they are all very different, or you have a lot to say for some other  
reason).  If you like, you can augment a shorter writeup with printed  
copies of the papers marked up with your comments.

(2) A revised abstract for one of the papers, aiming to follow the  
guidelines presented in class.  If you think the papers' abstracts are  
perfect as is, feel free to find another paper's abstract to rewrite.   
In that case, provide the original abstract, too.