Written by John Immel, Asheville, NC

Different Types of Evidence

• Existing research studies - Double blind, controlled studies are the gold standard, but may overlook individual idiosyncrasies.
• Interpretations by practitioners across modalities - This is essentially historical testimony. Often errors are perpetuated for generations without review. However, if disparate cultures draw the same conclusions this may increase validity.
• Clinical experience - Confirmation bias, as well as other kinds of bias (such as the type of clients that choose you) can all reduce the reliability of clinical experience.
• Personal experience - Limitation is that your body may work differently than others.

Reading Academic Articles Quickly and Efficiently: A Guide for Health & Wellness Professionals

Ensure Quality Sources

Primary sources

"A primary source provides direct or firsthand evidence about an event, object, person, or work of art.

Primary sources include historical and legal documents, eyewitness accounts, results of experiments, statistical data, pieces of creative writing, audio and video recordings, speeches, art objects. They include Interviews, surveys, fieldwork, Internet communications via email, blogs, listservs, and newsgroups are also primary sources.

In the natural sciences and social sciences, primary sources are often empirical studies (research where an experiment was performed or a direct observation was made). The results of empirical studies are typically found in scholarly articles or papers delivered at conferences," (Ithaca, 2017).

Secondary sources

"Secondary sources describe, discuss, interpret, comment upon, analyze, evaluate, summarize, and process primary sources. Secondary source materials can be articles in newspapers or popular magazines, book or movie reviews, or articles found in scholarly journals that discuss or evaluate someone else's original research," (Ithaca, 2017). If you read a 'fact' in an online news article (eg: Healthline) - click on the citation to ensure it's a) correct and b) from a valid source

Tertiary sources

"Tertiary sources contain information that has been compiled from primary, secondary sources. Tertiary sources include almanacs, chronologies, dictionaries and encyclopedias, directories, guidebooks, indexes, abstracts, manuals, and textbooks," (Ithaca, 2017).

Peer Reviewed Articles

Peer reviewed: means the article has been written by expertsin their field and is reviewed by other experts.

Look for peer reviewed articles when citing scientific information. This is the most likely way to find scientifically valid information that has conclusive information worth talking about.

The journal's website will usually tell you if they peer-review. It can be hard to tell if an article is peer reviewed or "refereed", so do not stress too much about this. Some sources will allow you to search for peer reviewed journals only. Most research in the medical field is peer reviewed, major publications especially.

Where to Begin? Finding Sources & Literary Banks

Reviews

Reviews are a good place to begin: they are the academic overview of the articles published on a topic and will give good foundation info and jumping off points!

• Search Google Scholar: <TOPIC> REVIEW

When searching for herbs, use the botanical name for most accurate information

Google Scholar

Google Scholar is a easy to use free resource. Results may include a lot of "non-scholarly" sources - you can see where it was published just under the title:

Full copies of the article often available right from the search results page, look for the [PDF] or [HTML] beside the title - click it to access the article:

If there is no [PDF] or [HTML] link - fear not! You can still often access a brief overview of the study by clicking on the title, see example here.

On Google Scholar you can filter by 'published' date. Consider beginning in the last 3-5yrs to avoid missing important new updates.

You can also do a Google search for: SCHOLARLY ARTICLES ON <TOPIC>

A DOI number is a unique number associated with each entry in PubMED that includes the MEDLINE database. This DOI number can be included in your reference if adding to an assignment. The PubMED tutorial can help you search successfully in PubMED.

The DOI is usually available at the top of the article. You can use the DOI link or number.

PubMed

PubMed is more in depth than Google Scholar. It compiles literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books. PubMed is a surefire way to know you are getting a good source.

Some citations include full texts, others include just the abstract, and some will link you to the publisher's website where you can ask for access or pay for access to the material you desire.

National Library of Medicine's MeSH

MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) is a controlled vocabulary thesaurus. My Saved Articles | Most Popular