Strategies for Success in STEM: Research Article Assignment

Scientific Research

Question: How do scientific researchers share information?

Answer: Through peer-reviewed research articles.

Scientific research articles are sometimes also called "primary" or "original" research articles. They describe the scientists' own research, an experiment they performed themselves. Original research articles will have a methods / methodology / material & methods section that explains exactly how they tested and measured everything.

• Watch the video below for a quick overview of the peer-review process.

Assignment Requirements

STEP 1: Think of a topic in a STEM field that interests you. It can be anything as long as it related to STEM. It is okay to revise your topic as you research and to incorporate new keywords.

STEP 2: Search ScienceDirect and possibly other sources of peer-reviewed, scientific research to identify one article that you want to read, analyze, and ultimately that you will explain to your classmates. It is important to select an article in which the authors performed the actual research. This is what is meant by "original" or "primary" research. If you have questions, ask your librarian or your instructor!

STEP 3: Once you have found an article, you will complete the first part of this assignment by citing it and then mapping it to the scientific method.

TIPS

• Your article must have a methods, or materials & methods section, or something comparable. If it does not, that means it probably isn't an original research article and doesn't fit the assignment requirements.
• ScienceDirect will not auto-generate a citation for you, but the main library article search will. Once you find an article in ScienceDirect, type the title into the search below and use the citation tool.

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