LibES.15 Digging Deeper: Scientific Article (2)
Applying our Guiding Questions
Let's recap the guiding questions we learned earlier:
- Who is the intended audience?
- Do the authors have authority? Why or why not?
- Is the publisher trustworthy?
- Does the author use citations? Do they tell you where they got their information?
Now that we've investigated the source Links to an external site., let's consider our guiding questions.
Who is the intended audience?
This article is an example of scientific and peer-reviewed article that is typically intended to be read by scientists and students. It was published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal, Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism. The journal contains complicated scientific jargon and is likely not intended to be read by the general public.
Do the authors have authority? Why or why not?
The author's credentials are stated underneath his name. He is a doctor and faculty member at University of Pittsburgh. The author has published widely on brain function, with some evidence of research and writing about MSG. For these reasons, the author seems to be trustworthy.
Is the publisher trustworthy?
The publisher is the journal Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism. More information about this journal can be found on its website Links to an external site..
From the About section:
Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism is a leading international peer-reviewed journal for sharing information on human nutrition, metabolism and related fields, covering the broad and multidisciplinary nature of science in nutrition and metabolism.
Reviewing the journal's website confirms that this journal is peer-reviewed and has been publishing findings since 1959. These factors tell us this is a well established and likely trustworthy journal.
Does the author use citations? Do they tell you where they got their information?
This article contains a wide scope of citations, a total of 55 are listed in the References section. This tells us that the author did a lot of research while writing this paper.
Final assessment
It is usually pretty easy to see when scientific, peer-reviewed articles are trustworthy because of how much information is expected to be shared about the author, publisher, and the study itself. Get into the habit of researching the author and journal of articles you come across. In this case, we have determined that the author and journal are credible, so we are safe to use this source for our research paper.
Click next to learn about evaluating another type of source.