Science for Non-Science Majors: Locating Articles

This document contains an original research report published in 2004 in JAMA as well as the reports in the popular press on that particular study.

Take a quick look to see the differences between the two.

            The Library offers a variety of electronic databases to support research assignments and personal interests.  These databases identify articles in scholarly journals, popular magazines and newspapers (also called "periodicals").  Many of the articles are available full text in the databases. 

These databases are not freely available on the Internet; the Library pays a subscription fee for each database.
  

Note below how to distinguish scholarly from popular or news articles.

Scholarly or peer-reviewed journal articles

• Primary source of information, original research
• Firsthand report of research
• Author(s) conducted the research
• Has an abstract
• Audience - academic communities, researchers and scholars
• Bibliography or reference list included (use to identify additional articles)
• Peer review of articles for publication (other scholars in that discipline review the article content)

Examples: Bioscience, JAMA: the Journal of the American Medical Association, Journal of Nutrition, Journal of the American Dietetic Association, Nature, Science

  Popular or news articles

• New and general articles about contemporary issues
• Secondary source of information
• Newspapers, magazines and trade publications fall into this category
• Secondhand report of research
• Author(s) did not conduct the research
• Audience - general public
• No bibliography
• No peer review (editor or editorial board but not scholars)

Examples: Discover, Science News, Scientific American

ScienceDaily is a POPULAR science news website which began in 1995.  It is best known for showcasing the top science news stories from the world’s leading universities and research organizations.

To focus on research studies when searching for popular sources (magazines and newspapers), entering the word "study" as part of the keyword search strategy may help.

For example:  soft drinks and diabetes and study

​Specialized Databases in Medicine and Science - listed below with instructions for searching provided.

A service of the U.S.National Library of Medicine (NLM) and is the primary database for medical research.  Click here to enter PubMed.

To begin:

• On the Library's homepage click on Databases
• Click on PubMed
• Enter keywords in search box and click Search
• Notice filter (or limit) options in the left margin
• Limit to English language and other limits as appropriate
• Click on title of article to read abstract
• Look for a QU Fulltext link in the top right or a publisher's link
• Note the Related Articles on right
• If there is no linking, copy the article title and paste it into the Library OneSearch box on the Library homepage

Indexing and abstracting of more than 1,000 Elsevier Science journals, with approximately half of them full text.  Coverage is primarily from the mid- 1990s.  Click here to enter Science Direct. 

• Click on the Advanced search link, then the Journals tab
• Type in the keywords
• Limit Source to Subscribed journals - only those with full text
• View All Sciences options and select appropriate discipline(s) 
• Limit by document type to Article (below Sciences menu) and dates
• Click on article title of interest
• Review the html version with hyperlinks from the outline and to references
• Some references are linked to the full article
• If article on-point, review the Related Articles on top right