1. Chris Luszczek Biol2050 week 3 Lecture September 23, 2013

2. What is Peer-review? Quality control on scientific research prior to publication Expert criticism of experimental work Important part of the scientific method – Ensures results are supported – Rewards novel ideas and scientific work – Helps settle scientific debates – Fuels future research

3. How is it done? Typically a Double-blind process – Both authors’ and reviewers’ identities are hidden from each other Usually 3 reviewers, corresponding through an editor

4. Why is this important? Evaluating researcher hones critical thinking Builds knowledge of different experimental methods and data analyses Helps develop an understanding of the positives and negatives in the way science is presented on-going cycle of improvement to the body of scientific literature being published

5. Ensures honest scientific reporting and helps avoid distortion of results

6. Utility for undergraduate success Critical to be able to evaluate primary literature – Quickly and critically extract main results, understand experimental design and analyses. Makes us more critical writers – Critically analyzing other papers makes us better editors and writers of our own work.

7. Effective reading of peer-reviewed literature Is the research question/hypothesis clearly presented? Does the research follow logically from prior knowledge? Is the article appropriately structured and clearly presented? Can you easily summarize the key message in the article? Does the title reflect the contents and is it engaging? Does the article fit with the scope of the journal (or lab being reported on)? Does it take account of relevant recent and past research in the field?

8. How to read/write a paper in minutes Title Indicates the main finding Abstract concisely written? Provides a clear overview of the work? Contains the essential facts from the paper? Ends by placing the work in a broader context, highlighting its significance? Intro Provides a clear, concise background to the study? Outlines the aims of the study and hypotheses Provides context to the current work Motivation for the work is explained Is there satisfactory citation of prior literature?

9. Methods Enough detail to replicate study? Is it clear what measured? Are the statistical design and analyses appropriate? Results Are the results provided in a form that is easy to interpret and understand? Have results for all the questions asked been provided? Are the figures and tables appropriate? Have the correct units of measurement been used? Discussion and Conclusions Have the authors answered their research question(s)/hypotheses? Are the conclusions drawn from the results justified? Has the significance of the study been fully explained? How do the results relate to similar studies? By how much has this study advanced the current understanding of the science?

10. Lab report marking scheme 1 mark - Title page – All info present – Quality of title 3 marks - Abstract <300 words – Touches on all sections of the paper – Final sentence highlighting significance, overall quality. 5 marks - Introduction 1 paragraph. – Begins general without grandiose, sweeping statements – Introduces the relevant ideas and background info to the study topic – Final sentences states what you will test in this study 2 marks – Methods – 1 paragraph, no citations – Written in the student’s own words – TA can follow and can reproduce based on description

11. Results 2 marks - Written – Findings are listed in direct, simple language – The figure is cited – Do not start sentences with Table 1 shows that… – Report on statistics (p-values from tests) 4 marks - Tables/figures – All tables/figures cited in text – Proper figure and table captions – properly formatted and informative – Figures and statistics are well matched to study hypotheses/objectives

12. 8 marks – Discussion – 1 paragraph – ‘What it means’ in ecology is usually one of the following. Supports/differs from previous studies on this topic. Relevance to theory or hypotheses. Relevance to management. Explain why you found the pattern you detected and what it means. – Relate results to the study questions/objectives – Answer questions from the lab manual – Relevant journal articles are used and discussed in relation to the study and results, citations are provided

13. 3 marks - Literature Cited – 3 journal sources cited – Proper citation format used – Matching in text citations for all references listed 3 marks - Attendance/participation 2 marks - General quality of scientific reporting 2 marks - Overall quality of writing Total = 35 Marks