Medical Library: Researching

Research articles will typically have the following charcateristics

• Will be listed as primary research, original research, basic research, or clinical trial. Primary research is clinical or experimental in nature where as secondary research reviews previous studies.
• Authors’ names and affiliations are clearly stated on the first page of article.
• May have identifying numbers assigned to indicate indexed in database PMID: 28122407 (for PubMed) or digital object identifier DOI: 10.1111/cxo.12507 which is a persistent link to the article.
• Will have an ABSTRACT – Some elements potentially listed in a structured abstract via headings: Purpose, Introduction, Scope, Design, Participants,
• Methods/Methodology, Outcome Measures, Results, Discussion, Conclusion. You won't see all of these in one article.
• ABSTRACTS are 150 – 300 words that summarize the article and help you determine if you need to read the entire article.
• Will have REFERENCES listed at the end of the article – all the resources the author consulted for their research.
• Will list KEYWORDS – to make searching more on the subject easier.

Example of acceptable research article: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28122407/