Advances in Physiology Education, Vol 268, Issue 6 21-S25, Copyright © 1995 by American Physiological Society
A checklist to help students analyze published articles in basic medical sciences
P. K. Rangachari and S. Mierson
Department of Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Because critical analysis of published information is an essential
component of scientific life, it is important that students be trained in
its practice. Undergraduate students who are more accustomed to reading
textbooks and taking lecture notes find it difficult to appreciate primary
publications. To help such students, we have developed a checklist that
helps them analyze different components of a research article in basic
biomedical sciences. Students used the checklist to analyze critically a
published article. The students were assigned an article and asked to write
a paper (maximum 2 pages of single-spaced type) assessing it. This
assignment has been found useful to both undergraduate and graduate
students in pharmacology and physiology. Student responses to a
questionnaire were highly favorable; students thought the exercise provided
them with some of the essential skills for life-long learning.
