Popular Press Versus Scholarly Sources

Assignment Goals
The purpose of this assignment is to
    Differentiate between popular press sources and scholarly peer-reviewed sources
    Evaluate how evidence and research is used in the area of health promotion
    Utilize critical analytic skills in assessing the validity of the information available to consumers since these articles in the popular press represent the information that your clients will be asking you about. A health care provider needs to be able to critically analyze this type of information for his or her clients and families.

Assignment Directions
PREPARATION
Find an article in the popular press (i.e., a newspaper or magazine article from a publication such as Newsweek, Time, or The New York Times) that discusses current research or a topic in the area of health promotion and disease prevention.
For the purposes of this assignment, the popular press article must discuss or refer to original research, and you must be able to locate the original scientific study discussed. (The research article must be published in a scholarly peer-reviewed journal.)
After reviewing both sources, complete a one-page evaluation that addresses the following points:
1.    Provide a brief summary of the popular press article.
2.    How does the popular press article present the research from the primary source?
3.    Is this popular press article something that you would share with your patients? Why?
4.    Provide any other observations you have about the two articles and how the information is presented in each. (E.g., In your opinion, does the popular press article get it right? Is there misleading information or oversimplifications? How do the two sources differ in terms of language or tone?)

Make sure to include full APA citations for both sources.

Tips= You can use this Time Magazine article about sleep deprivation…(https://time.com/5876612/sleep-alzheimers-disease-2/)

…and compare it to these scholarly sources mentioned in the Time Magazine article…
(https://go-gale-com.ezproxy.simmons.edu/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=T002&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchResultsType=SingleTab&hitCount=1&searchType=AdvancedSearchForm&currentPosition=1&docId=GALE%7CA409651823&docType=Report&sort=RELEVANCE&contentSegment=ZONE-MOD1&prodId=AONE&pageNum=1&contentSet=GALE%7CA409651823&searchId=R1&userGroupName=mlin_b_simmcol&inPS=true)

…and
(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166223620300771)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *