Current science articles

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Date: August 17, 2012

Current science articles are a good source for acquainting yourself with the latest discoveries in the field of science. Although most of the current science articles are originally published in a specialized scientific journal such as Nature or Physical Review Letters, a number of them are also available in inter-disciplinary journals, ordinary magazines and daily newspapers. Such articles are helpful in furthering the progress of science and communicating research findings. This way they also facilitate further research. However, some of the science articles may prove useless for general public as they are highly technical and overflowing with science jargon and statistical data.

There are different types of current science articles. The exact terminology varies by journal and field. However, some of the well-known article types are:
• Letters – They are also called “communications and tend to be instantly published because they are regarded as urgent. Letters briefly report on new research findings.
• Research Notes – These are concise descriptions of the findings of a new research, like Letters. However, there is a difference. Research notes are believed to be less urgent than Letters.
• Supplemental Articles – Research findings are represented in a tabular format in Supplemental Articles. This form of scientific articles is appropriate where there is large volume of data to be published. Supplement articles may have several dozens of pages with numerical data only.
• Review Articles – They do not discuss the results of an original research but provide readers with the findings reported in several different articles on a specific topic. Reviews are topic-centered and may provide references to the journal where the original work was published. A narrative or quantitative summary may also be regarded as review articles.
Most of the technical current science articles follow the famous IMRAD structure by the “International Committee of Medical Journal Editors” [ICMJE]. An article starts with a brief summary which is called abstract. Then the “introduction” part describes the background to the research. Details concerning the research work are furnished in the “material and methods” or “experimental” section. Results and findings of a research are then detailed in the “results and discussion” section while “conclusion” discuss results and explores new avenues for research.
The details above have shown that sometimes a purely science article may be of little use to the readers who belong to diverse backgrounds and do not possess technical know-how. However, a number of science journalists report new discoveries and research findings in magazines and newspapers. This sort of material is written with the readership in mind and is understandable to laymen. A number of such articles can also be found on the internet and are extremely useful for science students.
The pace with which science is progressing has filled the print and electronic media with a great number of science magazines, books, articles and online blogs. It may sometimes become tedious to find relevant and authentic material. Care should be taken in this regard and only the stuff by expert journalists and reporters be read. One should try to get maximum relevant information in the least possible time rather than getting drowned in the sea of meaningless [and sometimes bogus) information.