Resource of the Week #203: Some Handouts on Journal Clubs

Hello again. This week’s resources regard journal clubs—in other words, groups of people who meet periodically to discuss journal articles.

The first resource is a handout on starting a journal club. If you don’t have a journal club, perhaps start one. Among benefits: By discussing articles’ content and crafting, journal club members can become better authors.

Commonly, at each journal-club meeting, a member presents an article and leads the group in discussing it. Therefore this week’s other resources are handouts on being a journal-club presenter. Here are examples of tips from these handouts:

• From one handout: As the presenter and discussion leader, “Think of yourself as guide for a risky trip.”
• From another: To obtain background for discussing the article, read a recent review article on the topic.
• And from another: In preparing to discuss an article, ask yourself, “What would I have done differently?”

The authors of the handouts are from different research fields, and some of the advice is specific to those fields. However, much of the advice applies to journal clubs in general.

Do you have resources to suggest regarding journal clubs? Or do you have tips for people who are starting journal clubs or presenting at them? If so, please post a comment.

Until the next post—

Barbara