The article “Income disparities in obesity trends among California adolescents” written American Journal of Public Health dwells upon the research aimed at assessing the income of the families where adolescents reported obesity. Having conducted research adjusted to age, gender and ethnicity, it was concluded that the number of obese adolescents increased in the low-income families while the rates of the obese adolescents in the high-income families remained the same. The data was considered between 2001 and 2007 (Babey, Hastert, Wolstein, & Diamant, 2010). Another article for consideration is “Hints for the aspiring public health nurse” written in Public Health Nursing. This article presents the summary of the ‘Some hints to the nurse who seeks to become a successful partner in the Community Health Program,’’ by Mary Margaret Muckley published in 1923. This article provides the analysis of these hints from contemporary perspectives (Abrams, 2010).
The first article was reviewed by the professionals as serious research was conducted and the publication of the research corresponds to all the rules of the presentation of the peer-reviewed article. The first article is believed to be peer-reviewed as it is scientific research presented with the ideal structure, the background information, the methodology, the results and the discussion sections are included. The second article mentioned above is non-peer-reviewed as the author of the article has not conducted thorough original research which may require professional editing. The article is just the discussion of the problem which is conducted by the specialist in the field, but this is not the research that deserved attention and sometimes even dedication of the results and conclusions.
The importance of the peer-reviewed articles for the scholar-practitioner cannot be overestimated. In most cases, the peer-reviewed articles devoted to health care are based on the hypothesis which is considered and discussed in detail. The thorough research is conducted and the editors usually consider the research methodology and result in detail to make sure that the discussion and conclusions are correct. The information from such research is used in practice as in most cases these research projects are aimed at contributing to the practical activities of nurses aimed at relieving their work or increasing the effectiveness of their actions.
To discern a peer-reviewed article from first sight, the researcher should check the abstract which should contain a brief discussion of the objectives, methods, results and conclusions. The non-peer-reviewed article may contain just a summary of the article. These are the main signs I use for distinguishing between personal and scholarly writing. To check how the authority is demonstrated with documented sources, it is necessary to consider the practical purpose of the discussion and the originality of the research which are the main signs of the peer-reviewed article (the first way). The structure is also important as in most cases the peer-reviewed articles have specific subtitles, the background (literature review), methodology, results, discussion and conclusion (the second way). When the documented sources are absent, the authority of the article is always demonstrated by the original value of the research (the first way) and the validity of the hypothesis (the second way). The use of APA citations helps create a reference list and cite the considered sources in the text to avoid plagiarism. The Phoenix University Library contains reliable sources, therefore using it I should not check the source credibility one more time.
Reference List
- Abrams, S. E. (2010). Hints for the Aspiring Public Health Nurse. Public Health Nursing, 27(2), 196-199.
- Babey, S., Hastert, T., Wolstein, J., & Diamant, A. (2010). Income disparities in obesity trends among California adolescents. American Journal of Public Health, 100(11), 2149-2155.