Introduction. Students when informally surveyed in class indicate that when they ‘read’ a journal article they look at the abstract and often stop there. They may then read the introduction and discussion (in that order of importance) and actively avoid reading the methods and results sections. In contrast, biomedical researchers report that they read the abstract to determine if they want to read the full paper and then focus on the figures and tables presented.

Aims. To give the students confidence in making their own critical analysis of the data presented in journal articles.

Methods. The third-level molecular pharmacology course is part of the curriculum for undergraduate students majoring in pharmacology or medicinal chemistry (enrollment of 85 in 2013). Tutorial sessions in this course consist of learning activities led and designed by groups of students on two molecular techniques each fortnight. The following week a ‘journal club’ is conducted with these techniques being used in the research paper under discussion. A set of questions, which model the approach taken by researchers in critically evaluating research data were provided to help structure the students’ engagement with the results. Data was collected via course surveys.

Results. The survey response rate was 78-93% for 2011 to 2013. The majority of the students were in broad agreement with the question ‘the course was effective for developing my thinking skills e.g. critical analysis, problem-solving’ (93-100%). 30-40% of the free text responses on the surveys to the question ‘the best features of this course were’ listed the tutorial activities. For example, “Although the journal club was very comprehensive and time consuming, I think it was drastically improved my research article reading, understanding and evaluation skills”, “Interesting, Challenging journal club increased ability to read and understand papers”, “journal club improved my confidence with reading and understanding articles”.

Discussion. These learning activities provide students with an understanding of the techniques used and a framework to interpret the data presented in journal articles thus improving confidence in their data analysis skills. Similarly structured reading approaches also resulted in less student anxiety, frustration, and improved confidence in regard to data interpretation (Round and Campbell, 2013).

Round JE & Campbell AM (2013) CBE-Life Sci Educ 12:39-46