Some immediate thoughts:

You probably need to clarify what your benchmark of a reputable journal is. Might save you a lot of pesky questions later

Before they start your assignment, have them write down their preliminary thoughts using the sentence starter I used to think that…. Get them to submit their response to the sentence starter I now think that… so that they can track how their thoughts have changed as a result of reading the article. Promotes metacognition. And honestly, I would expect some of your students using a second LLM to summarise the first response they have derived. This Making Thinking Visible routine may help surface some original thinking on the part of your students,

Challenges your students to apply their newfound understanding on an everyday phenomenon related to their chosen theme. Getting them to make connections might help them to internalize the material better