This document discusses communicating science through peer-reviewed articles and popular sources. It provides learning objectives around contrasting peer-reviewed and popular sources for biomedical topics. It also reviews the parts of peer-reviewed literature and the peer review process. Examples are provided of peer-reviewed research on concussions in adolescents to illustrate these concepts.

1. How we communicate science.
Concussions and the peer review process

2. Learning objectives
• Contrast peer-reviewed articles vs.
popular sources for biomedical topics.
• Identify parts of peer reviewed/primary
source literature in the sciences.
• Recall steps of the peer review process.

3. Remember!
Use the library web site to find books
and articles.
http://library.uoregon.edu
(not mendeley)

4. David Howell’s research
presented by Jim Davis

6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrHqgsABcRs

7. More on Dr. Chou’s work on concussions
http://cascade.uoregon.edu/winter2014/online-extras/
walk-this-way/
http://cascade.uoregon.edu/winter2014/natural
-sciences/not-so-fast-concussions-and-recovery-time/

8. Faking
it
Ignoramous Expert Faking
it,
with
honor

10. Peer-review v. Popular
• Groups of 3-5.
• 1 person from your group to get 3
magazines/journals - 1 from each pile & a chart
for recording your answers.
• On the chart write down WHY you think the
magazine or journal you have is peer-reviewed or
a popular source.
• 1 person who is willing to share what you found,
should come back to the front.
• Juniors and Seniors – make sure you can tell us
which ones are unique to this format.

11. Peer reviewed articles Popular newspaper or magazine articles
Write down WHY the journal or magazine is in each category.

12. Bring the journals back to the front of the class.

13. Survey Q & As
Who is the first author and where do the
authors work?

14. Q3: Read the introduction (NOT the abstract).
What is the big question?
A. Does monitoring a person's gait while
administering single and duel function Stroop
tests the best way to judge recovery from a
concussion?
B. Are high school students playing sports getting
more concussions each year and aren't studied
enough?
C. How long does it take adolescents to recover
their ability to control balance while walking and
completing a simultaneous cognitive task in
comparison to healthy control subjects?

15. Q4: What are the authors trying to
answer specifically in this article?
A. Mental and motor skills are impaired for up to 2
months after a sports related concussion in
young people.
B. Quantifies the degree of gait balance control
disturbances in different conditions from the
time of injury and through the following two
months of recovery.
C. Gait balance in adolescents recovering from
concussions should be studied.
D. None of these.

16. Q5: What do the authors think the
results mean?
A. Adolescents recovering from a concussion have
greater difficulty with their balance while walking and
doing other tasks for several months or more. This
can be used to diagnose and treat the patients.
B. Adolescents recover quickly after concussions and
should be cleared to return to play as soon as
possible.
C. Dual task tests in adolescents are difficult to do and
it's impossible to account for all of the variables.
D. Something else.

17. Is this article an example of a peer-reviewed
or popular source?

18. Q7-9: The Associated Press. Congressmen Chide College
Conferences’ Concussion Policies. The New York
Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/02/sports/football/
02concussions.html. Published February 2, 2010.
Who is the intended audience?, Who are the authors?, What
is the big question?, Specific question?
A. An educated person, reading the newspaper; written by
reporters; generally it's about who should protect young
athletes who get concussions; specifically about what
regulations should be used.
B. For medical researchers; written by medical doctors;
concussions; regulations.
C. Only intended to be understandable for specialists with
years of experience on concussions; written by leading
doctors in the field; traumatic brain injuries in young
people; long term health impacts on college athletes.

19. Can this be both
Peer Reviewed journal article
as well as a
Popular magazine article?

20. WHAT IS A PEER REVIEWED ARTICLE?
http://vimeo.com/27119325

21. h
http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/tutorials/scholarly-articles/

22. Name all the parts of a
peer reviewed article
1. 8.
2. 9.
3. 10.
4. 11.
5. 12.
6. 13.
7. 14.

23. the peer review journal article
process

24. What does
peer-review look like?

25. Peer Review Process
Manuscript
(potential article)
Sent to journal editor
Sent to three to five experts in the field
Blind review Blind review Blind review
Manuscript
(potential article)
1. Accept
2. Revise
3. Reject

26. The wikipedia entry
How can we improve the information about
concussions in wikipedia?

27. Next steps: Your project
Concussion page is semi-protected

30. Your ideas included:
A. Fix the citations (find better sources, fix dead links,
etc.)
B. Fix the citations and check for accuracy (see if the
articles say what the wiki entry says they should
say, are there better sources to use for those
sections/improve the citations, etc.)
C. Improve the citations used and revise the existing
information in the article.
D. Expand the article (sports concussions, gender
differences, treatment options, brain activity,
severity, causes, etc.)
E. Do research on a concussion related topic of your
own.

31. The wikipedia entry
How can we improve the information about
concussions in wikipedia?
Tell the story!
What do you need to know?

32. Peer reviewed articles Popular newspaper or magazine articles
Write down WHY the journal or magazine is in each category.

33. Name all the parts of a
peer reviewed article
1. 8.
2. 9.
3. 10.
4. 11.
5. 12.
6. 13.
7. 14.