The Science Information Cycle

Researcher has an idea

Researcher articulates idea in a thesis

Someone reads it (and quotes it)

Researcher designs experiment to test thesis

The popular media summarizes results

Researcher publishes a paper on results

Researcher conducts experiment and collects data

The Science Information Cycle

Researcher has an idea
Does hormone replacement therapy increase the risk for breast cancer?

Someone reads it (and quotes it)

Womens Health Initiative designs study

Results reported on news, Internet, magazines. CQ Researcher article discusses it.

Paper published in Journal of the American Medical Association

WHI conducts study on trial group of over 16,000 women

Scholarly Journals vs Popular Magazines

Articles in scholarly journals
Are written by professors or researchers (look for a university or laboratory affiliation in the article) Have abstracts and reference lists Have a specialized format (often consisting of an introduction, methodology, results, discussion, and conclusions) Use discipline-specific language Examples: Nature, American Arachnology, Bulletin of Entomological Research

Articles in popular magazines

Are written by journalists Rarely have abstracts and reference lists Don't follow a specialized format Use language understandable by the general public Examples: Time, Smithsonian, Science News
Biology tutorial Retrieved 8/18/2009, from http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/tutorials/biology/ North Carolina State University