{"id":167,"date":"2015-10-25T14:38:06","date_gmt":"2015-10-25T14:38:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/temp.smartfantasyandscifi.com\/blog\/?p=167"},"modified":"2016-03-11T14:32:04","modified_gmt":"2016-03-11T14:32:04","slug":"dont-only-read-a-single-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microsites.ncl.ac.uk\/fmspgrstudentguidelines\/2015\/10\/25\/dont-only-read-a-single-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Don’t Only Read a Single Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reviews are generally not co-written by people of opposing opinions. They are views of one individual or lab and can be heavily biased towards one point of view. Most likely, they will also give disproportionate weight to their own research.<\/p>\n

Read multiple reviews from different labs, and, whenever you can, read the primary research.<\/p>\nGet Practical Tips<\/span>

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  1. Whenever a review on a subject says something is incorrect or debatable, look up the paper they are talking about and see if that author wrote a review on the subject. This is likely to be a good source of the opposite opinion.<\/li>\n
  2. For the important points within a review, make sure you look at the primary data. It is not so rare that people misinterpret other people\u2019s work according to their own biases.<\/li>\n
  3. Don’t reference reviews in your thesis. If you can’t find the primary research that shows something, then you don’t know it\u2019s true. There are plenty of myths out there.<\/li>\n
  4. The exception to the above tip is direct quotes of someone\u2019s opinion \u2013 which can come from reviews.<\/li>\n
  5. Don\u2019t judge the strength of conclusions based on the opinions of reviewers. Sometimes, the reasons people write \u201cshowed\u201d instead of \u201cindicated,\u201d can be arbitrary. Read the primary data and come to your own conclusion on the strength of the data.<\/li>\n
  6. If the reviews you read are older, then it is important to check more recent discussions of the subject.<\/strong> Perhaps bits have been disproved or expanded on. Your examiners will want to know your knowledge is current.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n\u00a0<\/b>
    \nRead Personal Perspective<\/span>