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A Scholarly Journal Article

Three Years Later

1954

Crick and Watson publish an article in a more specialized scientific journal. While the Nature articles can be understood by a well-educated layperson, the specialized article gives a more technically detailed discussion of their methodology and findings.

The Complementary Structure of Deoxyribonucleic Acid
"This paper describes a possible structure for the paracrystalline form of the sodium salt of deoxyribonucleic acid."

Crick, F.H.C., and Watson, J.D. (1954). Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Mathematical and Physical Sciences, 223, 80-96.

An article like this pulls together information from the Nature articles, conference presentations, and discussions with other scientists. Advance interest in an article may cause authors to send a preprint, or a draft of the article, to colleagues before it is actually accepted for publication. Remember that preprints have not yet been peer reviewed and may contain mistakes.

Specialized Scientific Journal Article Characteristics
AUDIENCE: Students, professors, or researchers; assumes a high level of knowledge of that specialty.
AUTHOR: Professors or research scientists
SELECTION PROCESS: Undergoes a peer review (or refereeing) process before publication. The editor sends the manuscript to at least two other scholars with expertise in that area. These "peers" review the manuscript and either accept the article, make suggestions for revisions, or reject the article
TIMELINESS: Take a year or more from submission to publication.
CONTENT: Articles focus on a specific research question; back up information with footnotes and/or reference lists citing earlier research; may include graphs, tables, and pictures to document findings.

WANT MORE on Scholarly Journals?
> Unit 9 > Evaluating Sources > Type of Periodical

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