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Research Worksheets and Handouts

• Getting Started
• Evaluating Sources
• General Research

Getting Started Having trouble getting your research rolling? These handouts and worksheets can get you past that initial hurdle.

Topic Identification worksheet (pdf) This graphic organizer will help you understand your assignment, identify and focus your topic, create a search strategy and find sources in 6 easy steps! For more information about research topics, visit www.codlrc.org/research101/topics

Developing Your Research Question (pdf) An infographic of journalistic questions that can help you brainstorm potential research questions.

Finding Evidence worksheet (pdf) Before you start your research, consider what evidence you’ll need to support your claims and think about how to find it.

Subject vs. Keyword Searching (pdf) Learn how to use keyword searching and subject searching together to find what you're looking for in the Library catalog and article databases.

Boolean Logic, Truncation, and Nesting (pdf) An introduction to advanced search techniques you can use to help you find information efficiently and effectively.

Advanced Research Search Strategies and Techniques (pdf) A quick reference for the types of advanced searching techniques you can use in databases, the Library catalog and in search engines.

Tips for Evaluating Information (pdf) Whether a resource is print or electronic, text-based or image-based, researchers must carefully evaluate the quality of the source and the information found within. When evaluating the quality of resources, here are some things to consider.

CRAAP Test (pdf) Do your sources pass the CRAAP Test? Use this guide to help you consider whether a source is appropriate for your research needs.

Source Evaluation Worksheet (pdf) Use this form to help you determine if a source is appropriate for your research. For more information about evaluating sources, visit www.codlrc.org/evaluating/sources

Research Article Anatomy (pdf) Reading research gets easier once you understand and recognize the pieces and purposes of research studies, from abstract to references.

Reading (and Understanding) Research (pdf) Adapted from How to Read and Understand a Scientific Paper: A Guide for Non-Scientists by J. Raff.

Introduction to College Research (pdf) Helpful resources for every stage of the research process.

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• v.22(1); 2021

Using Critical Analysis of Scientific Literature to Maintain an Interactive Learning Environment for In-Person and Online Course Modalities

Every instructor has concerns about effectively balancing the amount of course content with experiences to enhance a student’s skills for professional success. The COVID-19 pandemic made this process even more challenging by requiring many instructors to shift rapidly from in-person to online instruction while maintaining academic integrity. The objective of this course on tissue engineering, a multidisciplinary field that aims to repair and/or replace body damage, was to increase undergraduate students’ ability to read primary scientific literature and use critical analysis to creatively solve problems. Every week, a lecture covered the necessary background information to identify the current research questions and prepare students for reading the assigned research article. Students completed an analysis worksheet prior to the subsequent class, and a summary presentation followed by a student-led critical analysis discussion occurred in class. Small student groups completed an in-class thought exercise that designed several experiments that built on the article’s data. The modular course design enabled a quick and successful transition to an online asynchronous modality in less than two weeks due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A recorded weekly lecture was posted online by the instructor, and students completed the analysis worksheet, watched a student-recorded summary presentation, and posted to a discussion board. The experimental design worksheet became an individual assignment to provide more flexibility. Pretransition and posttransition assessment showed no significant differences and provided positive proof of concept evidence. This process can be adapted to a number of topic-themed scientific courses that use in-person, online, or hybrid modalities.

INTRODUCTION

Nearly every science instructor struggles with how to balance the amount of content with augmenting a student’s skill set for academic and professional success when designing a new course or refining an existing one. Some of the skills desired by postgraduate advisers and industry are reading primary scientific literature, critical analysis, critical thinking, communication, creativity, and problem-solving ( 1 – 11 ). However, not all class assignments and activities translate into developing all of these abilities. This process was even more difficult during the spring 2020 semester, when the COVID-19 pandemic caused in-person courses to rapidly transition to an online format.

In 2017, Sola et al . reviewed the literature and found that several studies indicated a downward trend in the ability of students to think creatively. For their particular study, the authors hypothesized that senior students would be better at critical thinking but less creative compared to freshman students. The authors found strong evidence that the freshmen were more creative, but no evidence that the freshman had a lower critical thinking ability compared to the seniors. They concluded that more focus on developing critical thinking and creativity was needed to address the problem ( 4 ). In another example, Ralston and Bays conducted a longitudinal study that followed three cohorts of undergraduate students from their freshman year through their senior year to study their critical thinking development. The hypothesis was that a significant increase in the ability of students to think critically would occur based on the incorporation of critical thinking assignments from their freshman to senior year. For all three cohorts, a significant increase in critical thinking scores between the sophomore and junior years occurred, but no other consistent comparisons between the three cohorts were measured. The authors accepted their hypothesis as the critical thinking scores did significantly increase over the four-year period ( 3 ).

The majority of the existing literature concentrates on the development of one to three of the aforementioned skills, but Hoskins et al . developed a CREATE (Consider, Read, Elucidate hypotheses, Analyze and interpret data, Think of the next Experiment) method for science undergraduates that focuses on the development of all the skills ( 1 – 20 ). This method was used in several science undergraduate single-semester courses to help students when reading and analyzing journal articles ( 2 , 11 , 13 ). The student assessment survey showed a significant increase from pre-test to post-test scores for decoding primary literature, interpreting data, active reading, thinking like a scientist, and research in context. The authors concluded that the CREATE method enhanced students’ ability to confidently read, understand, and explain research, which led to an increased ability in designing experiments, visualizing methods, critically analyzing the data, and relating the information to the bigger picture ( 2 ).

A similar approach to the CREATE method was used in an undergraduate, elective Tissue Engineering (TE) course. TE is an interdisciplinary field that combines life sciences, engineering, and medicine to repair and/or replace damaged tissues and organs. Cells, biomaterials, and/or bioreactors are used to create a functional and viable tissue or organ ( 21 ). This TE course focused on reading primary scientific literature, critical analysis, critical thinking, creativity, and problem-solving; however, it used a modular design that employed assignment scaffolding within each week’s chosen TE topic. A scaffolding approach was chosen to help guide students on how to solve more difficult problems by having several smaller-stakes assignments spread out over the week ( 7 , 22 , 23 ). This course was initially adapted to online instruction due to COVID-19 in the spring 2020 semester; however, a similar methodology could be applied to many scientific courses that range in topic and contain majors and/or nonmajors, while maintaining an interactive learning environment for in-person, online, or hybrid courses.

Intended audience

This elective TE course was designed for undergraduate students who had at least one semester of Anatomy & Physiology. Students previously enrolled in the course were biology majors, biology minors, biochemistry and molecular biology majors, or interested in the medical health field. It was designed for smaller classroom sizes (25 students or fewer) because of the student-led discussion following the student presentation, which was intended to engage the entire class. For larger classes, small groups facilitated by a teaching assistant or small recitation courses could be used and allow for enrollment to be increased by a factor of two to four. This TE course served as a proof of concept, and its modular design could be easily integrated into other topic-themed science courses. For example, an article that focuses on the p53 gene could be assigned when discussing the cell cycle and cancer in a cell biology or a genetics course. In an ecology course, an invasive species, such as zebra mussels, and its effect on the native populations could be assigned when discussing population growth and regulation.

Learning time

The first three weeks of the course focused on providing students with relevant background information that included introducing TE, cells, materials, and bioreactors. Figure 1 shows a schematic representation of the weekly process that transitions from course content to skill building starting with week 4. Each week began with a lecture that covered basic anatomy, basic physiology, past medical treatments, current medical treatments, and the research status on a specific tissue and/or organ. This helped students identify the current research questions and prepared them for reading the assigned research article chosen by the professor. Each student uploaded a completed Journal Article Analysis (JAA) worksheet to Canvas, a learning management system, before the following class ( Table 1 ). Then, a student gave a summary presentation on the assigned article and led the critical analysis in-class discussion. Afterwards, student groups (two to four students per group) completed the Design the Next Series of Experiments (DNSE) worksheet as an in-class thought exercise ( Table 1 ). Initially, this structure was designed to work in an in-person class that met twice each week; however, it could easily be adapted for a course that meets three times per week. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this course was rapidly transitioned to an asynchronous online modality.

Schematic representation of the weekly modular design that displays the assignment scaffolding process as it transitioned from course content to skill building. LO, learning objective.

Queries for the individual Journal Article Analysis and group Design the Next Series of Experiments worksheets.

The DNSE worksheet was changed to an individual assignment following the transition to an online modality.

Prerequisite student knowledge

Students should have knowledge of all the human body’s systems so each student understands what is needed to design a fully functioning organ or tissue replacement. A student must have passed one to two semesters of Anatomy & Physiology depending on how the curriculum is structured.

Learning objectives

At the end of this course, the student learning objectives (LOs) were:

• Apply physiological, anatomical, and engineering vocabulary to read and summarize primary scientific literature,
• Critically analyze data from primary scientific literature, and
• Design experiments that build on the data analysis.

The challenge presented by the COVID-19 pandemic was to transition the in-place modular design with assignment scaffolding to an asynchronous online format in less than 2 weeks without losing any progress made with the LOs.

Each student needed access to the JAA worksheet ( Table 1 ) and each week’s assigned research article (LO 1). The weekly student presenter accessed their presentation the day of the presentation, and all other students were given a rubric to fill out that assessed the presentation ( Table 2 ). The DNSE worksheet was then given out to each small group (two to four students) to be completed prior to leaving class ( Table 1 ). After the transition to online learning, all materials for students were available online on Canvas.

Rubric used to assess each student’s presentation grade.

A scale of 1 to 5 was used, where 1 = unacceptable, 2 = poor, 3 = fair, 4 = good, and 5 = excellent.

Student instruction

At the beginning of the semester, students were instructed to read the assigned research article and upload the completed JAA worksheet prior to the following class. They were also instructed to make note of any questions they had regarding the article. Nonpresenting students filled out the rubric that assessed the student’s presentation and ability to lead the discussion. The average student score counted for 40% of the presentation grade and the instructor’s assessment for 60%. All students were expected and encouraged to participate in the student-led class discussion that was directly tied to their grade. Since the professor completed the first presentation and in-class discussion, students were instructed to follow a similar format when completing their own presentations.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was concern about Internet access and reliability, combined with other stressors such as mental health, physical health, financial concerns, etc. affecting each student’s ability to learn and complete assignments ( 24 ). It was for these reasons that an asynchronous instructional modality was adopted. A recorded lecture for students was posted at the beginning of each week on Canvas. Students read the assigned article and uploaded the JAA worksheet a minimum of 22 hours after the recorded lecture was available (LO 1). Next, a discussion board was set up on Canvas for each topic that contained the recorded article summary presentation. Students watched the presentation, commented at least four times over a 48-hour period (LO 2), and uploaded a completed rubric that assessed the presenter. The DNSE worksheet was changed to an individual assignment to provide the students with more autonomy, and the number of experiments to design was changed to one or two ( Table 1 ). The completed worksheet was due ~36 hours after the discussion board closed (LO 3).

Faculty instructions

The first three weeks were lecture-based, with the instructor providing background information on TE, cells, materials, and bioreactors. As TE is a relatively new field, no textbook was used; instead, background information was found in scholarly publications. However, a textbook could be used in conjunction with the instructor chosen peer-reviewed articles found using databases. Starting in the fourth week, a specific tissue, organ, or organ system was chosen as the focus and the lecture described its anatomy and physiology, potential injuries and diseases, and past plus current medical treatments including any current limitations to completely restoring normal anatomy and physiology. At the beginning of the semester, journal articles chosen by the instructor have several obvious discussion points that students can easily find; however, this was required less and less over the course of the semester. It was found that better student presentations and in-class discussions occurred if the instructor modeled both of these for the students in week 4. The instructor facilitated the discussion by asking open-ended questions or asking students to analyze data, but this necessity decreased over time. Some example questions were: Do the figures and tables support the written results? Why or why not? What did the authors do well? Were the best materials and methods chosen to accomplish the goal? This type of facilitation was also needed when the small groups were completing the DNSE worksheet. For example: How long will the experiment run for? How often will data be collected? Do the experiments you have chosen fall in line with your hypothesis? What is the sample size for each group? Both the completed rubrics and DNSE worksheets were submitted prior to leaving class.

This modular format helped successfully and rapidly transition the course to an online asynchronous instructional modality. Student expectations, listed above, were clearly communicated through either email or using the announcements feature on Canvas. As this was a new format for presentations and discussions, the instructor modeled both of these again. The instructor also continued to facilitate the student-led discussion on the discussion board. Communication was important during this stressful time, and a weekly announcement was made on Canvas to remind students of assignments and due dates. This helped the students feel more connected and kept them on track. If a student was struggling, a personal email to the student was sent to check on them and remind them of the assignments that were due.

Suggestions for determining student learning

The challenge was to rapidly transition the course to an asynchronous online format in less than two weeks without losing progress on the student LOs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Tables 3 and ​ and4 4 display the LO assessment statements and the scoring system for each statement, with 1 being excellent and 5 being unacceptable, meaning that higher scores were more unsatisfactory. Possible scores ranged from 7 (best) to 35 (worst) for LO 1 and 5 (best) to 25 (worst) for LOs 2 and 3. Microsoft Excel was used to perform a t -test where p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant in LO scores before and after the online transition. In addition, course evaluations were used to assess whether the online transition was successful.

Assessment statements for the Journal Article Analysis worksheet.

The assessment was based on LO 1 and graded on the following scale: 1 = excellent, 2 = good, 3 = fair, 4 = poor, 5 = unacceptable. A score of 5 was given for each part that a student failed to complete.

Critical analysis, critical thinking, creativity, and problem-solving ability assessment statements.

Assessments were based on LOs 2 and 3 and graded on the following scale: 1 = excellent, 2 = good, 3 = fair, 4 = poor, 5 = unacceptable. A score of 5 was given for each part that a student failed to complete.

Safety issues

There are no safety issues associated with this course.

Sample data

Since no permission was sought from the Human Research Council prior to teaching the course due to the small sample size, and the COVID-19 pandemic could not be foreseen, sample data cannot be provided.

Field testing

While this was the second time that this course was taught to undergraduates at a small liberal arts college, it was the only time that a pandemic prompted a rapid change to online learning. Student enrollment was lower this time ( n = 5) compared with the previous enrollment in this course ( n = 11) due to other course conflicts. As the class consisted of all upper-level students and synchronous learning had occurred for 8 weeks, the shift in learning style early in the remote learning process worked well. It also allowed for greater flexibility for the instructor and the students, which helped to alleviate some stress.

Evidence of student learning

Although rapidly transitioning a course from in-person to completely online was challenging, the modular course design allowed for a successful and rapid transition to asynchronous online instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic. For LO 1, the average pre-score was 15.4 ± 3.7 ( n = 5) compared with 12.7 ± 1.8 for the post-score ( n = 5). A t test [degrees of freedom (d.f.) = 4, t statistic =1.62, one-tailed t -test p value = 0.09, two-tailed p value = 0.18) determined there was no significant difference between these two averages. The average class pre-score was 8.4 ± 1.0 ( n = 5) compared with the average class post-score of 8.4 ± 3.9 ( n = 5) for LOs 2 and 3. Again, there was no significant difference between the pre-score and post-score averages (d.f. = 4, t statistic = −0.14, one-tailed t -test p value = 0.45, two-tailed p value = 0.90). Academic integrity and an interactive learning environment were maintained since the LO assessment showed no decrease after the asynchronous online instruction transition. These results also indicate that there was a good balance between the amounts of course content and student skill development.

Course evaluations revealed that students strongly agreed that instructional methods were altered effectively for the sudden transition to online learning, and class changes were effectively communicated as the students understood and supported the decisions made. Weekly announcements reminded students when presentations were available, assignment due dates, and reiterated instructor availability. Evaluations also indicated that using Canvas for announcements, assignments, and grades was very helpful. There was also more flexibility in accepting late assignments as this fell in line with the goal of continuing student learning. For the JAA worksheet, the number of late submissions increased from 5% to 24%. The DNSE worksheet went from zero late/missing assignments to 12% for missing and 4% for late submissions. These results support that this topic-themed modular course design works for an in-person or an online course and could be adapted to fit a hybrid modality.

Possible modifications

Although the LO progress was sustained, it would be better if the assessment had shown an increase. For future online or hybrid classes, synchronous lectures and article presentations will aid in social and teaching presence; however, these would be recorded and uploaded for students who could not attend to view later. A synchronous discussion followed by an asynchronous discussion board would be used in the hopes of capturing the best of each method ( 25 , 26 ). Breakout groups could be used for smaller group discussions that then report to the larger group, and multiple discussion boards could be used. The student presenter would be in charge of the discussion board, with instructor facilitation as students prefer an instructor in this role, and an individual reflection assignment would ensure each student did not just post and leave ( 26 ). These small groups or multiple discussion boards could be managed by a teaching assistant to accommodate larger class sizes. Small student groups would then complete the DNSE worksheet virtually. Though there was a small sample size, the data demonstrate a positive proof of concept. This methodology can be easily adapted to other scientific topic-themed courses, such as cell biology, genetics, ecology, wildlife biology, and biochemistry, by choosing journal articles that relate to the current classroom topic and following the described format.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The author has no conflicts of interest to declare.

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Understanding and Evaluating Research: A Critical Guide

Student resources, worksheet for critiquing a journal article.

This site is intended to enhance your use of  Understanding and Evaluating Research: A Critical Guide  by Sue L. T. McGregor. Please note the resources on this site are especially geared toward maximizing your understanding of the material.

An editable version of the Appendix,  "Worksheet for Critiquing a Journal Article or Research Report,"  is available for download below.

›   Worksheet

16+ SAMPLE Article Analysis Templates in PDF | MS Word

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FREE 10+ Article Analysis Samples in PDF

Preparing and formatting an article analysis paper requires critical thinking of the literature, identifying the purpose statement of the article, and evaluating the point of view of the author. As numerous pieces of information are being spread today, it is an important skill for a reader to know how to analyze an article correctly to identify its most important points. By analyzing an article, readers can easily remember what they learned, increase their critical thinking capabilities, and will add value to their professionalism.

Article Analysis

Free 10+ article analysis samples, 1. business article analysis, 2. article analysis grading, 3. journal article analysis, 4. empirical article analysis, 5. standard article analysis, 6. article analysis example, 7. article analysis worksheet, 8. research article analysis, 9. basic article analysis, 10. multimodal news article analysis, 11. article analysis in pdf, what is an article analysis, how to write an article analysis, what are the examples of an author’s purpose in writing, what are the key points to remember in writing an article analysis, why do we analyze an article.

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An article analysis is a summarization of literature’s main points as well as the analytical critique of the writer’s purpose of the article writing and determines if the reader has read, understood, and can apply the article to their tasks which also helps in determining their critical thinking skills. Analyzing an article means understanding the type of literature you are going to analyze so you can proceed with the correct tone and format for your paper. This paper is usually used for business management,  data journalism , strategic planning , and project management.

Writing an article analysis aims to understand the thesis statement and contents of an article which means the reader should have to break down and study each of its parts. You must also ensure that the article project analysis paper’s readers will understand its key points easily while expressing your critical thinking skills so you can proceed with clear opinions and conclusions.

1. Understand the Content of the Article

To start analyzing an article, you must first read and understand its content. By reading the entire article, you will be able to determine the purpose of the author or the main points of the literature as well as the secondary points and verifications he used to support his arguments.

2. Conduct Your Own Research to Verify any Information

One feature of a good article is that includes a piece of new information that you must investigate to acquire a full understanding of the matter. You can conduct your own research to investigate the authority of the writer, the validity of their claims, and provide meaning to terms you do not understand.

3. Provide the Summarized Main Points of the Article

You must be able to give the summarized main points of the literature using your own words after reading, researching, and investigating the article’s information. Summarizing the article will show how much you have learned and understand the article and its author’s points.

4. Construct Your Own Opinion on the Subject

When you gain an understanding of the article, you can now construct your own opinion on the subject matter. You can accept the author’s argument, oppose it, or somewhere between the two. Constructing your own opinion means you can now implement your own understanding of the article.

Some of the several purposes why an author writes is to inform the reader by providing clear structure and enough evidence to support facts, to persuade them by presenting logical reasoning, or to entertain them by showing them emotions that articles can cause.

In writing an article, convey your ideas in a subjective way, ensure to properly introduce your subject in your paper, use evidence and facts to support your claims and ideas, convey the literature’s value and relevance by using critical analysis writing, and be unbiased as you read, analyze, and write your article analysis paper.

Analyzing an article provides an opportunity to explain its main points to the readers, the importance of its evidence and facts, its purpose, and its connection to other ideas in the article.

Article analysis enables its readers to increase their understanding of an article’s content because it conveys the author’s point of view, and analysis or provides a completed evaluation sheet of a given literature. It is also important to understand what type of article a writer is working with as there can be various types of articles to analyze.

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EEC600 - Chovanes

• Background Sources
• Identifying Empirical Articles
• Core Databases
• Writing a Literature Review
• Citing Sources

Literature Review Tips

• APA Style and Literature Review Tips

Literature Review Examples

To give you some examples of writing a literature review and an article analysis matrix to keep track of the themes of your articles, I have created a partial literature review and corresponding analysis matrix to demonstrate. My topic is the special education early intervention program called First Step to Success (FSS)

• Synthetic Writing/Literature Example (First Steps to Success)
• Article Analysis Spreadsheet Example (First Step to Success)
• Article Analysis Spreadsheet Example (First Step to Success - PDF Version)

The Process of Writing a Literature Review

Mastering synthetic writing is key to a successful literature review. Use these resources to learn how to analyze the articles you want to use for your literature review, keep track of common themes using an article analysis matrix, and how to convert the notes in the analysis matrix into a piece of synthetic writing.

Think of working on your literature review as a multi-step process:

• Identify a topic.
• Find research articles on that topic.
• Read and analyze each article. (Use the Individual Article Analysis Worksheet )
• Compare all of the themes addressed in the articles. (Use the Article Analysis Matrix )
• Use your notes from the article analysis matrix to decide how to organize your literature review (make an outline).
• Write your literature review by discussing one theme at a time--how is this theme covered in the literature?
• Your literature review will also need an introduction and a conclusion. Some students like to start with the introduction, while others find it is easier to write the introduction after they have written the body of their literature review.
• Don't forget to include References at the end of your paper (and to cite them properly within the text)!
• Individual Article Analysis Worksheet Use this to analyze each of your articles. Focus on questions #4 - #6. These will help you identify the major themes/main ideas in each article you read.
• Article Analysis Matrix After completing the Individual Article Analysis Worksheet for each of your articles, use this Article Analysis Matrix to compile all of the information you have gathered. Use the Example Article Analysis Matrix below as a guide to get started.

Example Article Analysis Matrix

Create a matrix by listing the articles you want to analyze in the top row of the matrix, and the major themes in the far left column. You will then review each article to see what themes are covered in that article. Check the appropriate boxes for what themes are discussed in each article. When you are done, you will be able to easily see which articles share common themes, and where there are gaps in the research regarding coverage of certain concepts.  

What does this example matrix tell you? What themes are well covered in the literature? Which are lacking? What do the different articles have in common? It may be beneficial to add additional columns (for more articles) or additional rows (to include a place to record each study's research method, findings, or limitations). The more work you do on the front end, thoroughly analyzing various aspects of each article, the easier it will be to pull it all together in the end for your literature review.

Synthetic Writing

A literature review is not the same as a research paper. The point of a literature review is to synthesize the research of others without making a new argument or scholarly contribution. A literature review is also not an annotated bibliography. You should not write about each study you are reviewing in turn, but instead write synthetically to highlight the current state of the literature.

Key Points to Consider:

• The purpose of a literature review is to report the current state of the topic. Literature reviewed should be relatively recent, unless you are delving into the history of the topic.
• Discuss different themes within your literature review rather than individual articles. It will help if you pull information from 2-3 articles for each theme you discuss.
• All works cited should be both in the text of the literature review and the bibliography
• Avoid passive voice (ex: It was found that...); Use active voice ("Smith (2013) reported that...")
• Report what the literature says, not what you think

Writing Your Literature Review

The sites below offer a range of considerations and steps for writing the literature review.

• Learn How to Write a Review of Literature From the University of Wisconsin-Madison Writing Center.
• Literature Reviews From the UNC Chapel Hill Writing Center.
• Literature Review From the University of Houston-Victoria, Texas.
• The Literature Review: A Few Tips on Conducting It From the University of Toronto Health Sciences Writing Centre.
• Writing Literature Reviews From the Temple University Writing Center.
• Getting Started on Your Literature Review From the University of New South Wales Learning Centre.
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• Last Updated: Apr 18, 2024 1:42 PM
• URL: https://library.ship.edu/eec600

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