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BIO 7B - Human Physiology

Peer Reviewed Scientific Journal

  • Scholarly journals publish articles in a particular area of study. 
  • The articles are written by researchers sharing their original research with other scholars in their field. 
  • They are usually published by science organizations or university presses. 
  • Most scholarly journals are peer-reviewed, which refers to the policy of having experts in the same field examine the articles prior to acceptance for publication.  The formal peer review or refereed process ensures that research being reported is of the highest quality following standard research practices. 
  • Examples of scholarly peer-reviewed journals:
    • Nature
    • Bioscience
    • The New England Journal of Medicine.

Popular Magazine Articles Defined

Articles published in popular magazines are written for the general audience and most people would understand the content without any special education or expertise on the topic. Some typical popular magazines are Time, Psychology Today, Smithsonian, National Geographic, Scientific American, etc. You will NOT be using popular magazines for this assignment.

Example of an Article from Discover Magazine (2007) The Body Can Beat Terminal Cancer — Sometimes

Comparing Article Types: Illustrated

Primary Scientific Research Article

  • Primary research articles are written by the scientists who are reporting on their own original research/experiment in order to communicate their discoveries or findings to other scientists.
  • Articles follow a specific structure and contain several main elements:
    • abstract
    • introduction
    • methods and materials
    • results
    • conclusion/discussion
    • bibliography or references for all sources cited

Literature Reviews

  • Literature review (also known as review articles or secondary sources) summarize a particular topic and provide an overview of the current understanding of that topic. 
  • While it will not count as a primary research article, they are still very useful to students as they learn about the broader scope of their research area. 
  • The articles will cite notable studies and making connections between those studies.
  • Often review articles look very similar to research articles but one key difference is that review articles DO NOT INCLUDE a methodology or methods and materials section.