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BIO-110: Spotting Bad Science

A general guide to help students find research articles and effectively write and cite their work..

Anatomy of a Scholarly Article

Critically Evaluate

Quality Questions:

  1. Is the author an expert in their field? Who sponsored the article?
  2. Is it current? What is the pub. date?
  3. Is it peer reviewed? 

Content Questions:

  1. What is the research question?
  2. What is the primary methodology used?
  3. How was the data gathered?
  4. How is the data presented?
  5. What are the main conclusions?
  6. Are these conclusions reasonable?
  7. What theories are used to support the researcher's conclusions?

Take notes on the articles as you read them and identify any themes or concepts that may apply to your research question.

This sample template (below) may also be useful for critically reading and organizing your articles.

Spotting Bad Science

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Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

By Compound Interest: http://www.compoundchem.com/2014/04/02/a-rough-guide-to-spotting-bad-science/