During April, we looked at a range of tools to help you with critical appraisal of medical research articles.

In the first week, we looked at the BMJ’s online ‘How to Read a Paper’ series, which is also available as a physical book, borrowable from the Medical Library.

If you prefer a physical version of this series, we have the book in the library! https://t.co/DXbw1Wif4f

— Cambridge Medical Library (@cam_med_lib) April 4, 2017

This series demystifies the process of interpreting different types of research papers, making it easier for you to know which information to include when evaluating them for reliability and trustworthiness.

In the second week of April, we recommended the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) checklists. These are free, downloadable checklists, available here. Each asks a series of questions about different types of research, tailored to different study designs (such as RCTs, systematic reviews, qualitative studies, and so on), which act as signposts to the most relevant information in any given research publication.

The checklists are downloadable, and can be accessed here: https://t.co/KNriqSdRB9

— Cambridge Medical Library (@cam_med_lib) April 10, 2017

In the third week of April, we recommended WeCATS, an invaluable free resource for anyone interested in critical appraisal. This is a joint initiative of Cochrane UK, CASP, and The Mental Elf — regular, Twitter-based critical appraisal sessions where an article is shared and participants critically appraise it online. This is a great way to get into critical appraisal in a relaxed, low-pressure environment, and would be particularly useful to those who don’t have much time to devote to training courses or more formal professional development, or lack access to critical appraisal courses in their institutional library.

#WeCATS is live, online critical appraisal, open to all. Participants can join in and improve their skills in interpreting research.

— Cambridge Medical Library (@cam_med_lib) April 18, 2017

In the final week of April, we highlighted all the ways the Medical Library can help with critical appraisal. We have regular training courses on critical appraisal — upcoming sessions include critically appraising an RCT, critically appraising a physiotherapy paper, and critically appraising a systematic review. As always, you can get in touch with us if you want to book a place on any of these courses.

Get in touch if you'd like to attend any of these sessions, and we can book a place for you — email librarytraining@medschl.cam.ac.uk.

— Cambridge Medical Library (@cam_med_lib) April 24, 2017

If you cannot attend our courses, but would like to do so in the future, keep an eye out for training announcements, because the courses will be repeated throughout the year. If you want to get started, we have a bunch of critical appraisal resources available on the Medical Library website.