how to evaluate a published research article

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how to evaluate a published research article

Outline and discuss the criteria which should be used in evaluating a published research article

¡§The central work of life is interpretation.¡¨ ¡VProverb

Introduction
Think about the magazine section in your local newsagents shop. If you reach out with your eyes closed and grab the first magazine you touch, you are about as likely to get a supermarket tabloid as you are a respected journal (actually more likely, since many respected journals don't fare well in newsagents). Now imagine that your newsagents is so accommodating that he lets anyone in town print up a magazine and put it in the magazine section. Now if you reach out blindly, you might get the ¡¥Elvis Lives with
Aliens Daily¡¦ just as easily as The Economist or Time.

Welcome to the Internet. As I hope my analogy makes clear, there is an extremely wide variety of material on the Internet, ranging in its accuracy, reliability, and value. Unlike most traditional information media (books, magazines, organisational documents), no one has to approve the content before it is made public. It's is one¡¦s job as a searcher, then, to evaluate what one has located, in order to determine whether it suits your needs, and whether it is a reliable source, for example is the research done through a recognised organisation?

In my Essay I am going to outline and discuss the criteria, which should be used in evaluating a published research article. I am going to be focusing mainly on the aspects of Internet published research articles and how to go about evaluating such sources of information. The Reason behind being so specific is due to my current course of study being a internet related degree. This essay is going to be seen as an attempt to orientate the reader of research by identifying and discussing major themes, issues and methods of evaluating a published research article. Within this orientation a further purpose of the essay is to increase the awareness and choice a user of published research the reader has with regard to possible research methods, thus facilitating the use of the most appropriate and relevant methods of evaluation for a given research topic. No attempt will be made to provide exhaustive coverage of all or any specific means of evaluating published research article/s. For more detailed, in-depth coverage I recommend that the reader consult more specific and comprehensive sources. A detailed comprehensive bibliography is included at the end of the essay. Throughout my discussion on how to evaluate a published research article I am going to give reference and Illustrate my essay to the article given (see appendix, article by ;Perry). The article is entitled ¡§Internet use by university students: an interdisciplinary study on three campuses¡¨. This article is a study if differences exist among various age groups regarding students¡¦ use of the Internet.

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Information Exists on a Continuum of Reliability and Quality
Information is everywhere on the Internet, existing in large quantities and continuously being created and revised. This information exists in a large variety of kinds (facts, opinions, stories, interpretations, statistics) and is created for many purposes (to inform, to persuade, to sell, to present a viewpoint, and to create or change an attitude or belief). For each of these various kinds and purposes, information exists on many levels of quality or reliability. It ranges from very good to very bad and includes every shade in between. There is a saying "knowledge is ...

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