Criticizing Journal Articles: So Helpful!

The other day, my older brother came to Boston for a business trip and we met for dinner. We caught up on his work and my classes- and how much I love biochem! He was happy for me but seemed a little unsure. As an accountant, he’s not all that immersed in the world of science. He started to say how he thinks science classes are great, but he feels that many doctors and students have learned through science courses to blindly take what they are taught and what they read about science as the truth, and that it can lead to doctors prescribing the wrong medications/treatments. I agreed with him that that is how it is for a lot of other classes I’ve been in throughout my years of studying science, but recently, and mostly in biochem, we are actually taught how to criticize scientific papers. I told him all about how we diagram entire papers and see where they may have faults in their process or what they forgot to mention to validate their argument-and he was so surprised! I really don’t think many other students at other schools get a chance to learn how to or that they even can criticize journal articles, so I really appreciate this skill. Thanks Didem!