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Research Study referenced in a Popular Journal

Sometimes you will read about a research study in a popular journal (Time, Newsweek) and you want to locate the scholarly article that describes the research. This tutorial will show you some techniques for locating the original research article.

Research Studies in Popular Magazines

When you read a popular article where the author(s) discusses the results of a research study published in a scholarly journal, the author(s) of the popular magazine article may provide you with some clues that will help you track down the original article. This may include:

  • The author(s) of the original research article
  • The journal where the article was published
  • The date when the research was completed or published.
  • Other information such as the place where the research was conducted

If you are lucky, the authors will include the complete citation or a link to a citation for the original research article at the end of the article of the article but this is not always the case.


Examine your article and see what information you can find: author, topic, date, journal.

If you have the author of the research study and journal it was published in, go to the author and journal tab

If you have the topic of the research study and the journal in which it was published, go to the topic and journal tab

If you have the author of the research study and know the topic of the study, go to the author and topic tab