*disclaimer* the opinions expressed in this thread are my own and do not constitute immutable fact. Please consult your advisor before undertaking any exercise.
I thought, since there appears to be a diffidence in the Journal club members, regarding review of the articles, I would put down a few points about the basics of a research article.
This may also be useful for non-science members.
PART ONE: THE BASICS
A journal article can be of of the following types:
1. Original research
2. Review, Perspective or Opinion
3. Methods
A review or perspective generally summarises the available evidence to provide an overview of the known information in a narrow field or offer fresh perspectives on what has already been done. These are very useful for the beginner who wants to get background information about an aspect of e.g. biology, as also for the serious researcher who wants to be up to date or is looking for fresh ideas.
An original research paper is logically divided into the following sections:
1. Title
2. Abstract
3. Introduction
4. Methods
5. Results
6. Discussion
7. Conclusion
The title should be short and informative: what was done, how and by whom
The abstract is a summary of the paper. It contains one line introducing the problem, the objective, methods, results and relevance.
The Introduction should contain a statement of the problem, background or review of the literature, purpose and expected results.
The method should define the subjects, instruments or reagents, procedure and data analysis, including statistics.
The results section reports the results succinctly without interpretation.
The discussion should reflect knowledge and insight describing the interpretations derived from the study.
A methods paper describes a method or review of methods, with validation tools as well as the advantages and disadvantages of each.
I thought, since there appears to be a diffidence in the Journal club members, regarding review of the articles, I would put down a few points about the basics of a research article.
This may also be useful for non-science members.
PART ONE: THE BASICS
A journal article can be of of the following types:
1. Original research
2. Review, Perspective or Opinion
3. Methods
A review or perspective generally summarises the available evidence to provide an overview of the known information in a narrow field or offer fresh perspectives on what has already been done. These are very useful for the beginner who wants to get background information about an aspect of e.g. biology, as also for the serious researcher who wants to be up to date or is looking for fresh ideas.
An original research paper is logically divided into the following sections:
1. Title
2. Abstract
3. Introduction
4. Methods
5. Results
6. Discussion
7. Conclusion
The title should be short and informative: what was done, how and by whom
The abstract is a summary of the paper. It contains one line introducing the problem, the objective, methods, results and relevance.
The Introduction should contain a statement of the problem, background or review of the literature, purpose and expected results.
The method should define the subjects, instruments or reagents, procedure and data analysis, including statistics.
The results section reports the results succinctly without interpretation.
The discussion should reflect knowledge and insight describing the interpretations derived from the study.
A methods paper describes a method or review of methods, with validation tools as well as the advantages and disadvantages of each.
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