Referencing And Sources Flashcards
Best source to worst source of reference
Best to worst Primary research articles in refereed journals Review articles in refereed journals Text books Reliable websites Newspapers, new scientist Websites
What are research papers published in?
Research papers are published in academic journals
Journal of molecular biology
British journal of haematology
Cell
Nature
Some journals are published by professional societies
Others are published commercially
What do academic journals have
Have an editor who is a distinguished researcher
Use a process called refereeing
What happens after you have written up your research?
You submit it to the editor of a relevant journal
The editor sends your manuscript to 2 or more independent referees
-who are specific experts in the subject of your manuscript
What do referees check for in papers to be published in academic journals
- that there are no obvious experimental mistakes
- proper control have been performed
- the results are correctly described
- the conclusions correctly reflect the evidence
A Pepe in a refereed journal is a good source of evidence because it is refereed. But it is only one piece of evidence
How do we get certainty?
Certainty comes from putting many pieces of evidence together
What are review articles?
An expert describes their current understanding of the field with references to the primary research paper
Why should you reference?
To show where the information came from
To allow readers to check whether the information is reliable
To tell readers where to find out more
To give intellectual credit to the original discoverer
To avoid plagiarism
When do you not need to reference
For information in the public domain
- common knowledge
- universally accepted
- because of the weight of evidence
Eg dna is the emetic material in humans
Where should you look if you want background information?
Refer to an expert review in a scholarly (refereed) journal
Where should you look for key information?
Refer to the original research paper presenting the original evidence
What is secondary referencing
Giving review of paper you only know about because of secondhand, from a review or another paper
So putting that rather than original paper in references
When should you use et al
When more than 2 authors
Where is reference information found in a journal article?
Usually somewhere on the first page
