MGT 357 - Evidence-Based Management

These tutorials, handouts and videos explain help you understand the articles you are reading.

Scholarly articles in everyday life

Since many scholarly articles go through a peer review process, it can be quicker and easier to evaluate. However, there are still a few things to investigate before using a scholarly article in your research.

Examine the Article

1. How current is the article? Don't just look at when the article was published, but also scan the references to make sure the author(s) used current sources.
2. Is the methodology used sound? This may require deeper expertise of the methods used in your field to evaluate. Talk with your faculty mentor about the articles you found to help determine what is appropriate for your field.
3. Is this relevant to my research topic? Consider if and how the article you found is relevant to your research topic. Does it provide background on your topic or relate to your research in other ways? Even if an article is well cited, it won't be helpful to you if it doesn't connect to your topic.

Investigate Beyond the Article

1. Publisher or journal the article was published in. Ask yourself:
   1. Does the journal require peer review?
   2. Is this journal well regarded by other experts?
2. Author(s) who wrote the article. Ask yourself:
   1. What expertise do the authors have on this topic?
   2. What other works have these authors published?
3. Check for retractions 
   1. What is it - https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-03974-8
   2. Tools like Retraction Watch can be helpful

It can be helpful to google the author and publisher to see what you can find out about them.

Evaluating a source is to explore the source. You do not need to answer all the questions above each time you evaluate a source. Over time you will become familiar with well regarded journals and authors in your field. All research skills take practice, the more you use this skill the faster and better you will become at it.