Science Reporting - Popular vs. Scholarly
Mercury Lockdown - Charcoal makes toxic mercury less likely to enter the food web. Scientific American, January 2014.
Activated Carbon Mitigates Mercury and Methylmercury Bioavailability in Contaminated Sediments. Environmental Science and Technology. 2013
Compare the reporting on the scientific study in a science magazine (Scientific American) vs the original paper in a scientific journal (Environmental Science and Technology)
Two kinds of articles in science journals:
Research Article
- Describes the findings of original observations or experiments.
- Should provide an abstract, methods, results and points for discussion.
- Most of the articles published in science journals are research articles.
- Research articles are considered primary literature.
Review Article
- Summarizes current research in a particular area of study, categorizing and highlighting recent research studies.
- Good way to get an overview of current research in a field.
- Easier for a non-specialist to understand than a research article.
- Review articles are considered to be secondary literature.
Some science journals publish both research and reviews, such as the major journals Nature, Science, and PNAS.
