Article Critique

 

Shasta College

Family Studies and Services

FSS 25 Nutrition

Article Critique Assignment

 

Objectives:

 

In this assignment, you will:

- CHOOSE a topic concerning nutrition/health.

- INVESTIGATE the evidence regarding your topic by reading a scientific research article which presents a study conducted by the authors.

- WRITE a persuasive paper explaining your point of view and how that perspective is substantiated by the scientific evidence.  The target audience for your paper should be Shasta College students who are not science majors.

 

 

Detailed Procedures

 

  1. SELECT a topic within the scope of this course. (For example: Does caffeine consumption by pregnant women result in birth defects?)

  2. SEARCH the scholarly literature for a recent, original (not a review) scientific article in a peer-reviewed journal that addresses your topic. To search an article, see the section of “How to find a scientific article you want” in this handout.

 

3.  ANALYZE the study to determine the soundness of the author’s conclusion.

 

-         What did the authors observe?

-         What inferences did they make about those observations?

-         What aspects of the way the research was conducted lead you to support the authors’ conclusions? (These are strengths.)

-         What facets of the research design and procedure suggest that the results might be explained in a different way? (These are weaknesses/limitations.)

-         Are the authors’ inferences sound?  Are there alternative inferences that the authors could have made?

 

  1. WRITE your critique paper (approximately 2-3 pages, single space).  Your critique paper needs to include the following:

-     Introduction: the description of the importance of the topic

-         Description of the study including the objective(s) of the study, the study design, methods, results and conclusions by the authors.

-         Identification of strengths and explanation of why they are strengths.

-         Identification of weaknesses/limitations and explanation of why they are  weaknesses/limitations.

-         Description of whether you support the authors’ conclusions and why.

-         The reference*

 

  1. SUBMIT your paper on the due date (see the syllabus).  Please attach the article you critiqued to your paper.

 

 

*Citation of references.

Here is an example of a hypothetical reference.

 

Smith D.A. (1998) Low fat diets and weight loss.  International Journal of Obesity. 137:48-54.

 

 

  

 

 

How to find a scientific article you want

 

  1. Go to the Shasta College website (www.shastacollege.edu)

  2. Click on ‘Library-LRC’.

  3. Click on ‘Class Research Guides’.

  4. Click on ‘Nutrition’.

  5. Read the guide thoroughly.

  6. Click on ‘Article&Database’ under ‘Locating articles’.

  7. Click on ‘Magazines’.

  8. Click on ‘Academic Premier (EBSCOhost). Click on the satellite icon for off-campus access.  You need a library card for off-campus access.

  9. Click on ‘Advanced Search’ located at the top of the screen.  Scroll down to Limit your results.  Click on Scholarly (peer reviewed) and Full Text.  Enter key words you want such as ‘fiber’ and ‘weight loss’, and click on Search.

  10. Choose an article that presents a single study conducted by the authors themselves.  In order to see the full text, click on PDF Full Text.  Make sure that the article you have chosen describes the “methods”, “results”, and “discussion” of the study.  Avoid a ‘review article’ that describes different studies in the article.  Review articles don’t have the sections of methods, results and discussion.  Also, please avoid articles such as ‘Opinion’, ‘Editorial’, or ‘Commentary’.  If you are not sure whether the article you have chosen is an appropriate one, please see me.

 

 

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