When was this source published?
How old are the references and data used?
Has this source, or its data, been updated?
Does this type of information get updated?
Is there likely to be more recent information available elsewhere?
Is this information relevant to your assignment? Is there likely to be better information?
Is this aimed at the correct audience?
Who wrote it? What are their qualifications?
Where do they work? Who do they work for?
Are they likely to have a good understanding of this field?
Is the information reliable?
Can you find the original source?
What is the quality of the presentation? Are there significant errors?
Do the conclusions match the data?
Have all sides been considered?
Why has the article been written?
Is there any obvious bias? Is the author or their employer likely to get a benefit out of the recommendations?
Is it recommending a particular course of action or therapy? Does the data support this? Are any alternatives considered?
In university, you need to use peer reviewed articles for your assignments. Sometimes these can be called scholarly or academic articles.
A peer reviewed article is checked carefully by a panel of experts to make sure it is accurate.
The typical peer-reviewed primary research article contains some or all of the following sections (and possibly other sections not mentioned here). Click each one to learn more:
The abstract provides a brief summary of the journal article contents.
Look at the abstract when deciding whether to select and use an article in your search results.
The introduction sets the background and context of the article, and may include the reason the research was undertaken.
Pay attention to this section on your first reading.
The methodology might not be included in some "discussion articles", but will be included in many research articles.
It gives explicit details of how the research was conducted, and should be sufficient to reproduce the research.
On your first reading you might skip over this section.
It's the research equivalent of a cooking recipe.
Results and analysis (sometimes merged, sometimes separate sections) give a detailed listing of the research results, and details on how the results were summarised and interpreted, and may include statistical details.
On a first reading you might skip over this section.
This section might not be present in some "discussion articles".
This is usually a discussion of the results or other sections of the paper, including potential flaws in the research and implications of the results.
Pay attention to this section on your first reading.
This usually sums up the outcome or recommendations from the research or discussion. It is the "bottom line" of the article.
Pay attention to this section on your first reading.
At this point, you might want to consider whether the results and the analysis justifies the conclusion, or whether a strong conclusion is being made from insufficient or uncertain results.
Good-quality journal articles will provide references to either support the ideas and arguments in the article, or to provide a source for the ideas and information used. In-text citations in the other sections will show where each reference has been used. On a first reading you might skip over this section.
If you are using a recent article, the references can be a good source for finding more articles on the same topic.
Sometimes you may be asked to use primary research articles in your assignments. What does this mean?
This abstract from a primary research article shows the population studied, the intervention or treatment applied, and what the researchers found out.
Examples:
The role of gender in a smoking cessation intervention: A cluster randomized clinical trial
Sometimes you may be asked to use primary research articles in your assignments. What does this mean?
This abstract from a secondary research article shows how many other articles were examined by the authors, and how they decided which ones to study.
Examples:
Here's how to limit your search results in QuickSearch.
In your results screen, you can filter results using the options down the right hand side of the page.
To limit to peer reviewed articles, under Availability, click on Peer-reviewed Journals. The results will now only be peer reviewed articles.
You will notice this icon which shows under all peer reviewed articles.
To limit results to secondary research, under Resource Type, select Reviews by hovering your mouse over the word and clicking on the checkbox to the left that will appear. This will show only articles that are reviews, or secondary research.
To limit results to primary research, click on the red box to the right. This will remove secondary research from your results.
You will still need to check the results carefully for yourself and decide if the articles you choose are primary or secondary, as this filter is not completely accurate every time.
Need to critically appraise a randomized controlled trial or a systematic review, or some other type of research article?
Critical appraisal checklists can be found at:
ebook:
Appraising qualitative research articles:
Côté, L. (2005). Appraising qualitative research articles in medicine and medical education.
Critical appraisal of Indigenous research:
Harfield, S., Pearson, O., Morey, K., Kite, E., Canuto, K., Glover, K., Gomersall, J. S., Carter, D., Davy, C., Aromataris, E., & Braunack-Mayer, A. (2020). Assessing the quality of health research from an Indigenous perspective: the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander quality appraisal tool. BMC Medical Research Methodology, 20(1), 1-9. https://bmcmedresmethodol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12874-020-00959-3
Lock, M. J., Walker, T., & Browne, J. (2021). Promoting cultural rigour through critical appraisal tools in First Nations peoples’ research. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 45(3), 210–211. https://doi.org/10.1111/1753-6405.13097