Research Articles

What is a research article?

 Scientific research articles is the way in which scientists
communicate with other scientists about the results of
their research

 It is an original piece of work based on experiments and

study done in a specific scientific field

 It explains the experiment in detail and in a logical order

 Gives information on the latest and most current studies
The structure…
 Title of journal
 Title of article
 Authors
 Affiliations
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Methods and Materials
 Results
 Discussion/conclusion
 Acknowledgements
 References
The journal…
 Scientists write for scientific journals that have a good reputation in the scientific field

 Scientific journals have impact factors that certify their prestige and importance in the
field

 An impact factor is a measure ref lecting the average number of citations to articles
published in science journals. It is the average number of times published papers are
cited up to two years after publication.
 the impact factor 2010 for a journal would be calculated as follows:

A = the number of times articles published in 2008-9 were cited in indexed journals
during 2010

B = the number of articles, reviews, proceedings or notes published in 2008-2009

impact factor 2010 = A/B

The title…
 …is scientific and long and specific
e.g “General practitioners’ treatment orientations towards low back pain:
Influence on treatment behaviour and patient outcome”
(From “European Journal of Pain” Volume 13, issue 4, April 2009.Pages 412-418)

 It gives an explanation of the whole study

The abstract…to pull out…
 Gives the summary of the work – extracts the
important elements of the whole paper
 May be structured or non-structured- approx 250
words
 Structured – divided into headings
 Background / Objectives
 Methods and materials/ design
 Results
 Conclusion
 Non-structured – no dividing headings – contains all
information above
The introduction…
 Gives background information of the topic matter
 What we already know about the problem
 What is unknown:- limitations and gaps in previous
research
 The aims and hypothesis/ hypotheses of the current
work
 What needs to be studied and what is being studied
here
 What is your proposal regarding the experimental
procedure?
Identify sentences that give:
1. The “what’s known” or background
2. The “what’s unknown” or gaps and limitations
3. The aims and approach of this specific study
 1. Mass media in the form of television, radio and printed material are frequently used to deliver
medical information to the public. Research suggests that mass media can improve public
knowledge1 and potentially improve health behaviors.2 Television is one of the most important mass
media sources of health information.3 4 However, concerns have been raised about the quality,
completeness and accuracy of medical information covered in the news media,5 6 7 8 and television
news media is no exception.7 8 The quality of information outside of the news media has not been
examined.
 According to Nielsen’s report, American citizens spend an average of over five hours a day watching
television.9International health information programs, such as The Dr Oz Show and The
Doctors have become a regular part of television broadcasting. In the 2012-13 season, The Dr Oz
Show was consistently ranked in the top five talk shows in America with an average of 2.9 million
viewers per day, while The Doctors had a high of 2.3 million viewers.10 11 In the 2012 Greatist report,
Dr Mehmet Oz and Dr Travis Stork (one of the hosts of The Doctors) were both included in the top
100 health and fitness influencers.12
 Popular television talk shows such as The Dr Oz Show often engender skepticism and criticism from
medical professionals.13 14 15 However, no research has systematically examined the content of the
medical information provided on these talk shows. Our objective was to review the most popular
medical talk shows on television, to (1) determine the type of recommendations and claims given and
the details provided, and (2) search for and evaluate the evidence behind these recommendations.
 BMJ 2014;349:g7346
Design/ methods and materials
 Contains detailed information on WHO or WHAT ,
WHEN, WHERE, HOW.
WHO -subjects, participants : people, animals,
databases, the design population
 Information on HOW the work has been carried out -
The experimental procedure.
 WHEN : the chronological order of events
 WHAT : The apparatus and established methods
used
 WHERE: the clinical setting
The results…
 Give the results of the experiment in detail
 What has been discovered
 The findings
 What the data shows
Conclusion/discussion
 Gives an opinion of how the work has been done
 An assessment of the results- what the results mean
 Explains if the objective has been achieved
 What was found? Is it novel?
 Gives the strong points- support conclusion with data
 Defend your conclusion anticipating criticism -
 Gives the weaknesses and limitations of the work
 Explains future implications and what needs to be
improved or to be further investigated.
 What do the results mean and why should anyone
care?- strong conclusion statement restate main
From the introduction
To discussion
Limitations….
Future implications
Affiliations
 Where the researchers/authors come from- country
 Where they work- university, hospital, clinics,
associations etc.
 Emails are available to contact the authors
Researchers literature
background
 Check on the first and last authors
 FIRST AUTHOR HAD THE IDEA
 THE LAST AUTHOR IS THE COORDINATOR OF
THE GROUP AND HEAD OF DEPARTMENT
 Check if they have any other publications
 GOOGLESCHOLAR.COM digit surname and initials
of first names Sheehan W.J
 MENTION A COUPLE OF RESEARCH TITLES
 WERE THEY FIRST AUTHORS OR CO-AUTHORS?