There are 3 parts to this assignment and 2 articles to find. Please read each part carefully before proceeding. You will need to submit at least a 2-page paper, single spaced, and include each article’s title, author, publication site (journals, magazines, web-sites) and date of publication.

PART 1 Find and read 2 different types of nutrition-related articles published on the Internet.

Article 1

: This should be an article of interest to you which you find on a web site or link you have already explored in this class, or others with which you are familiar. It should include general information but should NOT be a research article although it may include explanation about some research as supporting evidence. The article should be more than just a paragraph or a blog. If using Google or another search engine, try to narrow the topic when you conduct your search so it is specific…i.e. type 2 diabetes and weight loss; the benefits of 7 to 9 servings of fruits and vegetables; breastfeeding and decreased risk of allergies; depression and Vit. D intake. Choose a topic of interest to you.

Article 2

: Find and read a peer reviewed, evidence based, scientific article about the SAME nutrition topic (or close to it). It should be published in a research journal. There are 2 ways to do this:

Go to http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/ (Links to an external site.)

You need to find a “ Full Text Article” and it needs to explain research (an experiment or a summary of experiments that follow the scientific method). Scan the entire article to review the parts of research (may include: abstract, introduction, methods or design, data analysis, results, discussion, limitations, conclusion).You need to read at least the Abstract, the Introduction, the Results and Discussion and the Conclusion to complete this assignment. 

Example of a Research Article title:

Getting heavier, younger: trajectories of obesity over the life course. Title of article

By: Lee, J. M.; Pilli, S.; Gebremariam, A.; Keirns, C. C.; Davis, M. M.; Vijan, S.; Freed, G. L.; Herman, W. H.; Gurney, J. G.. Authors of article

International Journal of Obesity, Name of the journal where the article appears

Apr2010, Vol. 34 Issue 4, p614-623,; date and where to find the article

10p, 8 Charts, 7 Graphs, Abstract, Information about what to expect.

PART 2: Write a review of each article and answer the following questions in narrative form.

Article 1

Title of article, name/s of the reporter or authors, name and address (URL) of the web site, the date the articles were published or posted, the name of the journal the article was in.

Critically analyze the web-site where you found your first article. Go to the About Us link and find out about the web-site sponsor: look for a list of the board of directors, the vision or goal of the site; how old is the web-site, and other descriptive information. Report on whether something is for sale. This will entail some investigation. Be nosey and find information that helps you determine what the website is offering. 

Determine the credentials of the author(s) that make them a “qualified” writer. Explain why you think they are qualified. (Refer to the text for exact criteria.) They may not be credentialed but still qualified to write the article….explain why, i.e. have science or health writing experience, refer to studies and experts to support claims and ideas, provide resources and references.

In your own words summarize the information presented: the main idea of the article, the objective, intent, outcome…explain what the article is about.

Address whether the author(s) presented the info clearly and provided support to make the information trustworthy, i.e. were experts quoted; were statistics or studies discussed? What was said? Provide examples.

Address whether the information was understandable and applicable. How useful and practical is the information and for who? Explain any tips or hints the author suggested for making changes. Provide examples.

Does the article relate to the title? Is the layout easy to follow and does the information flow? Provide examples how. 

State your opinion about the article: did you like the article; learn new information (examples of what you learned.); trust the information (based on what you found out about the web site, the author and the supporting information provided by the author); was it practical; can you apply the information; did the article do what you thought it would do?

Article 2

State the name of the article, the authors, the journal and date that the article was published in the journal. (Note…some research articles are available on online publishing sites but they should include the date and may include a journal it was also published in.)

Provide a summary of the author’s background information.

Explain what was being researched, i.e. what is the hypothesis? Look in the introduction section for why the authors want to do this research…what are they hoping to find?

Give a brief explanation of the study design. Find this in the Introduction and the Methods section. You do not have to tease out the details but try to find who/what was under investigation; how many people were involved and for how long did the study last? What was the intervention, i.e. what was given or done to the intervention group and what was given to the control group as a placebo?

State the outcome of the study. What happened? What did the researchers discover?

Was the outcome significant? – find this in the Discussion and/or Conclusion of the article.

State your opinion about the article: did you like the article; learn new information (examples of what you learned.); trust the information (based on what you found out the authors and the supporting information); did you understand the study and understand how the outcome may be useful.

PART 3: Comparative critique: Compare and contrast the 2 articles.

Explain major differences and similarities:

Discuss which type of nutrition information is most trustworthy: reliable and credible.

Compare the content differences, the format, and the goals/intent of each article.

State the intended audience for each article. Who would be most likely to read each one and why?

Discuss what features you liked or did not like about the articles.

Which one was most understandable to you and why?

Which one gives you the most applicable information?  

Which one did you prefer and why?

Objective: To be able to critically analyze and compare 2 distinctive types of nutrition information found on the Internet. One will come from a commercial, non-profit, government or educational organization and the other from a scholarly journal or a website specializing in evidence based nutrition information.

Instructions: Make sure you have read Chapter 1: “Nutrition Advice: Who Can You Trust?” and also the “ Nutrition Debate” at the end of the chapter. Particularly helpful are the tips “Use Your Knowledge of Research to Help You Evaluate Media Reports”. Also a tutorial about determining credible nutrition information can be found at 

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/webeval/webeval_start.html

There are 3 parts to this assignment and 2 articles to find. Please read each part carefully before proceeding. You will need to submit at least a 2-page paper, single spaced, and include each article’s title, author, publication site (journals, magazines, web-sites) and date of publication.

PART 1 Find and read 2 different types of nutrition-related articles published on the Internet.

Article 1: This should be an article of interest to you which you find on a web site or link you have already explored in this class, or others with which you are familiar. It should include general information but should NOT be a research article although it may include explanation about some research as supporting evidence. The article should be more than just a paragraph or a blog. If using Google or another search engine, try to narrow the topic when you conduct your search so it is specific…i.e. type 2 diabetes and weight loss; the benefits of 7 to 9 servings of fruits and vegetables; breastfeeding and decreased risk of allergies; depression and Vit. D intake. Choose a topic of interest to you.
Article 2: Find and read a peer reviewed, evidence based, scientific article about the SAME nutrition topic (or close to it). It should be published in a research journal. There are 2 ways to do this:

Go to 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/ (Links to an external site.)

You need to find a “ Full Text Article” and it needs to explain research (an experiment or a summary of experiments that follow the scientific method). Scan the entire article to review the parts of research (may include: abstract, introduction, methods or design, data analysis, results, discussion, limitations, conclusion).You need to read at least the Abstract, the Introduction, the Results and Discussion and the Conclusion to complete this assignment. 

Example of a Research Article title:

Getting heavier, younger: trajectories of obesity over the life course. Title of article

By: Lee, J. M.; Pilli, S.; Gebremariam, A.; Keirns, C. C.; Davis, M. M.; Vijan, S.; Freed, G. L.; Herman, W. H.; Gurney, J. G..  Authors of article

International Journal of Obesity, Name of the journal where the article appears

Apr2010, Vol. 34 Issue 4, p614-623,; date and where to find the article

10p, 8 Charts, 7 Graphs, Abstract, Information about what to expect.

PART 2: Write a review of each article and answer the following questions in narrative form.

Article 1

· Title of article, name/s of the reporter or authors, name and address (URL) of the web site, the date the articles were published or posted, the name of the journal the article was in.

· Critically analyze the web-site where you found your first article. Go to the About Us link and find out about the web-site sponsor: look for a list of the board of directors, the vision or goal of the site; how old is the web-site, and other descriptive information. Report on whether something is for sale. This will entail some investigation. Be nosey and find information that helps you determine what the website is offering. 

· Determine the credentials of the author(s) that make them a “qualified” writer. Explain why you think they are qualified. (Refer to the text for exact criteria.) They may not be credentialed but still qualified to write the article….explain why, i.e. have science or health writing experience, refer to studies and experts to support claims and ideas, provide resources and references.

· In your own words summarize the information presented: the main idea of the article, the objective, intent, outcome…explain what the article is about.

· Address whether the author(s) presented the info clearly and provided support to make the information trustworthy, i.e. were experts quoted; were statistics or studies discussed? What was said? Provide examples.

· Address whether the information was understandable and applicable. How useful and practical is the information and for who?  Explain any tips or hints the author suggested for making changes. Provide examples.

· Does the article relate to the title? Is the layout easy to follow and does the information flow? Provide examples how. 

· State your opinion about the article: did you like the article; learn new information (examples of what you learned.); trust the information (based on what you found out about the web site, the author and the supporting information provided by the author); was it practical; can you apply the information; did the article do what you thought it would do?

The grade for this section relies on how well you explain what the article is about AND how well you make the case for the credibility (or lack there-of) by providing examples of experts quoted, references cited, resources and statistics stated…etc. 

Article 2

· State the name of the article, the authors, the journal and date that the article was published in the journal. (Note…some research articles are available on online publishing sites but they should include the date and may include a journal it was also published in.)

· Provide a summary of the author’s background information.

· Explain what was being researched, i.e. what is the hypothesis? Look in the introduction section for why the authors want to do this research…what are they hoping to find?

· Give a brief explanation of the study design. Find this in the Introduction and the Methods section. You do not have to tease out the details but try to find who/what was under investigation; how many people were involved and for how long did the study last? What was the intervention, i.e. what was given or done to the intervention group and what was given to the control group as a placebo?

· State the outcome of the study. What happened? What did the researchers discover?

· Was the outcome significant? – find this in the Discussion and/or Conclusion of the article.

· State your opinion about the article: did you like the article; learn new information (examples of what you learned.); trust the information (based on what you found out the authors and the supporting information); did you understand the study and understand how the outcome may be useful.

The grade for this section depends on how well you are able to summarize the most important parts of this research article: the reason for the research, what the researchers did and what they found. You may need to read this a couple of times and focus on the Abstract, the Introduction, the Discussion and Conclusion.

PART 3: Comparative critique: Compare and contrast the 2 articles.

Explain major differences and similarities:

· Discuss which type of nutrition information is most trustworthy: reliable and credible.

· Compare the content differences, the format, and the goals/intent of each article.

· State the intended audience for each article. Who would be most likely to read each one and why?

· Discuss what features you liked or did not like about the articles.

· Which one was most understandable to you and why?

· Which one gives you the most applicable information? 


· Which one did you prefer and why?

Grade Rubric:

Part 1: 5 pts – Appropriate articles

Based on the similarity of topics. One is meant for the public and found on a consumer, government or educational website and one is found through a data base of peer reviewed research articles. The topics should be related. I WILL GIVE THE ASSIGNMENT BACK TO YOU IF THE ARTICLE TYPES DO NOT FOLLOW THIS FORMAT.

Part  2: 30 points (15 points for each article summary).  Assessment of credibility and reliability of the source, author and content.

Grade depends on how well examples are used to show reliability and credibility of the article source and content AND your summary of each article including…what the article was about and some examples of what the author included: references, citations from experts or studies mentioned; statistics, resources.

Part 3 : 15 points – Comparative analysis

Based on the comparison made between the 2 articles. Grade depends on examples that show similarities and differences.