Notes
on Web - Unit Two - Part 5 (Associated Exercise)
Scientific Publishing Process and Journal Review Exercise
Bruce G. Stewart
General Objectives
and Study Guide
Your objectives for
these Notes on the Web and associated readings and exercises are:
- To diagram the peer-reviewed process in science publication (e.g. journals)
and name and explain the roles of each component;
- To state examples of some peer-reviewed journals
and give the biological disciplines they cover;
- Describe the structure of a typical journal
article and give the purpose of each part, from Title to Literature Cited.
Refer
to your Internet Notes and listen to class discussion about verification and
publication processes in science. Note the figure that illustrates how
the peer-review process often proceeds. We will discuss this figure in
detail during lab or lecture. You will be given a real peer-reviewed science
journal to examine and use throughout this exercise. Following our discussion
of this figure and the publication process in general, proceed with the following.
Examine
the journal you are given. Write a "lab report" that addresses the
following:
- Your Assignment Information - Write in the
Upper Right Corner of First Page:
- Your Name
- Journal Review Exercise for either General Biology, General Zoology,
or Human Anatomy and Physiology as the case may be
- Date
- Part I. Basic Information about the Journal
- Name of journal
- Subject area (discipline) of journal
- Editor of your journal. Note that there may be more than one type of editor.
If so, look for the "Managing Editor's name or ask me for help.
- Note: Be thorough and write in complete sentences. For example: “The name
of the journal is ….”, “The discipline(s) covered by the journal is(are)….”,
The editor (or managing editor, etc.) is…” Be thorough through
out this entire exercise.
- Part II. Basic Information about a Main Paper. Choose a
main paper (usually papers in the first half or so) from your journal and
write the following on separate lines .
- The complete title of that paper
- The author(s) name(s)
- The author’s (or authors') affiliations (at what institution or organization
were they located at the time of the publication)
- Part III. Content and Purpose of Scientific Journal Articles.
Identify the major sections of the paper and briefly describe the purpose
of each. Do not summarize the content although you should give an
example or two as you describe the purpose of each section! Start a new paragraph
for each section. You should look for the main sections whatever they
may include, not just the ones listed below! Major sections often include
such things as an:
- Abstract
- Introduction ( Here is an example of a brief description of the introductory
section of a hypothetical student lab report:
- Introduction. The introduction of the paper provides
background information and cites previous work that backs up what
the authors are saying. It explains why this research is new
and important. One bit of specific information in the introduction
was the statement that little is known about the biology of the rare
species of frog they studied, Hyla dumbpseudosciencensis.
Apparently, this species does not realize that the laws of nature,
including natural selection, play a critical role in its survival.
- Materials and Methods (Sometimes these are separate sections. Sometimes
this section will include a description of the study area or sometime
this is is in a separate major section of its own.)
- Results (Sometimes this is combined with discussion in a major section
called "Results and Discussion.")
- Discussion (Sometimes this is combined with results as noted above.)
- Conclusions (Sometimes conclusions are combined with discussion and
will be found toward the end of the discussion section.)
- Acknowledgements
- Literature Cited. In your description of the purpose of the literature
cited section, also quote one sentence with a citation from the body of
your paper, and then copy the complete citation from the literature cited.
Here is a hypothetical example:
- Jones (1995) stated that students work harder when motivated by
personal desire to learn.
Jones, Amber G. (1995). Important student motivations for
learning. Journal of Student Psyche 14 (2):225-237.
- Part IV. Value of Research. Play the role of the biologist(s)
who conducted this study. Suppose that some narrowminded, uninformed
and scientifically-illiterate politician or other citizen attacks the value
of doing this kind of research. Explain why it is important. What does
it contribute to our understanding of the world around us?
- Turn your work in and the journal you were loaned.
©
2005, 2007 Bruce G. Stewart
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Last Updated:
25-Jul-2008 9:16 PM
