Practical guide
How to create a science news digest
Resolve the underlying study and publication stage. State the question, design, population, result, and stated limits; group press coverage under the work and preserve credible methodological disagreement.[1][2]
Why this gets difficult
Science news can make one study sound decisive, hide whether the work is a preprint, and repeat a press release across outlets until repetition looks like replication.[1][2]
A practical way through
- Identify the paper, repository or publisher record, authors, and publication status.[1][2]
- Extract the design, sample, comparison, outcome, and stated limitation from the readable primary work.[1][2]
- Group press releases and news stories under the study they discuss.[1][2]
- State whether the result confirms, contradicts, narrows, or merely adds to prior evidence.[1][2]
An example
The situation: A small observational study receives broad coverage framed as proof of a causal health effect.[1][2]
What changes: The study design and population lead, causal language is rejected, and responsible commentary is kept where it explains confounding or needed follow-up.[1][2]
What you get: The reader learns the real finding and its limits without losing the reason the work may still matter.[1][2]
What to watch for
Sources worth keeping
How Scottie helps
Scottie can monitor selected research, institution, and science-news sources, group coverage around the underlying work, and retain the primary links.[3]