Utilizing the Scientific Literature | Process of Science | Quiz

Which of the following publications would be considered part of the the scientific literature?

a peer reviewed article in a scientific journal

a peer reviewed textbook written by a scientist

a newspaper article about a new scientific breakthrough

a science fiction book written by a scientist
Which of the following statements best describes the role of the scientific literature in conducting research?

The literature is usually consulted only at the beginning of the research process in order to formulate a question.

The literature is rarely consulted by scientists as they conduct research.

Old contributions to the scientific literature are no longer useful in modern research.

Consulting and adding to the scientific literature is an integral part of the research process.
A research paper by several scientists was published in Nature (a prestigious science journal). One year later, other scientists in the same discipline discovered mistakes in the procedures used and alerted the authors. The authors agreed that they had made mistakes, which they had not recognized earlier. They could no longer be confident in their results, so they asked Nature to retract their paper, or remove it from publication. Which of the following statements best describes this situation?

The literature is an archive of knowledge; thus, any known mistakes should be removed.

The authors simply made a mistake; there is no need to retract the paper.

The scientists who found the mistakes were just being picky.

The authors committed fraud and should be punished.
In writing up the results of a recent experiment for publication, a scientist comes across a study in which the authors describe a similar experiment with different results. What would be the most appropriate way for the scientist to address this in her journal article?

Avoid citing the study since the results differed.

Cite the study to say that the experiment was done and avoid discussing the different results.

Cite the study and offer an explanation why the results might have differed.

Cite the different results as evidence that her experiment was better.
How do most scientists search for and find relevant information in the scientific literature?

by browsing in a bookstore

by subscribing to several journals in their discipline

through databases that archive titles and abstracts

through web search engines like Yahoo!
Once data are published in the scientific literature, there would be no reason to reanalyze those data later.

true

false
Citing others in your research papers is good practice because

it fills in the gaps of your own knowledge.

it shows that you don’t think you have all of the answers.

it shows that you have been thorough in your research.

other researchers know more about your topic than you.