Articles on tracing claims to their origin, telling document types apart, and checking publication status, funding, registrations and corrections. This page lists all 11 Everyday Prevention Evidence guides on the topic, each with its opening lines so you can pick the one that matches your question.
Everyday Prevention Evidence is an independent publication. These guides are for education and do not replace care from a qualified professional.
Guides in this section
Corrections, Expressions of Concern, and Retractions: What They Mean for a Health Study
When a health study you're reading about gets a "correction," an "expression of concern," or a "retraction," these are three different things — and they don't all mean the same level of trouble. A correction usually fixes a small, isolated error.
Why a Study Protocol and the Published Report May Not Match
A study protocol is the plan a research team registers on a public database like ClinicalTrials.gov before or during a trial; the published report is the paper that comes out afterward describing what actually happened.
How to Read a ClinicalTrials.gov Record Before You Read the Headline
A ClinicalTrials.gov record is the official registry page for a U.S. clinical trial — it lists the study's purpose, current recruitment status, who can join, what it measures, and whether results have been reported.
How to Follow a Health Claim Back to Its Original Source
Say a friend sends you a post that claims a supplement "cuts your risk of heart disease in half." Or a headline says "New study finds…" with no link to the actual study. Before you believe it, share it, or bring it up with your doctor, it helps to trace the claim back to where it actually came from.
How to Separate a Study Result From the Author’s Interpretation
A study result is the data a study actually measured — a number, a comparison, an outcome. An author's interpretation is what the researchers believe that number means, stated separately in the discussion section. Confusing the two is one of the most common ways health claims get overstated.
Preprint or Peer-Reviewed Study? How to Tell What You Are Reading
A preprint is a research draft posted online before independent experts have reviewed it. A peer-reviewed study has already been checked by outside specialists in the same field before publication. That difference determines how much weight a health headline deserves, and it takes about 60 seconds to check.
How to Read a Health Study Abstract Without Stopping There
A health study abstract is the short summary at the top of a research article, and it can tell you the question researchers asked, the type of study they ran, and the headline result — but not everything you need before trusting the finding. Read the abstract to decide if the article is worth opening; don't stop there.
How to Find Funding and Conflict Disclosures in Health Research
Funding and conflict-of-interest disclosures usually appear at the end of a journal article, near the reference list, and in the author affiliations line near the top. If you're reading a news story or website summary instead of the original article, check that source's "About Us" or advertising-disclosure page too.
How to Read a Health News Headline Without Overreading It
To read a health news headline accurately, check five things before you act on it: whether the study involved people or animals, how many participants were included, how long it ran, what type of study it was, and who paid for it. If the article doesn't answer most of these, treat the claim as unverified.
How to Check Who Published, Updated, and Is Meant to Use a Health Fact Sheet
To check a health fact sheet, look for three things: a named publisher with contact information, a visible review or update date, and a stated audience such as patients or caregivers. If any of these is missing, treat the page's claims as unverified until you find them elsewhere.
How to Tell a Study, Guideline, and Patient Fact Sheet Apart
A study is original research testing one question, usually in a specific group of people. A guideline reviews many studies and turns them into a recommendation for how care should generally be handled. A patient fact sheet is a short, plain-language summary built from studies and guidelines, not new research.