Look at the evidence
Trace a claim back to its study.
An impressive sentence is easier to assess when you can follow it back to a study. Start with the sentence you want explained.
Keep the exact claim
Copy the claim you want to check and ask for its study link. Keep the claim’s wording so you can compare it with the source.
Open the cited study
Read the study’s summary and identify who or what was studied. Was it people with the problem in the claim, healthy people, or animals?
Compare the result with the claim
Look for what the researchers measured. Record the result and the question it leaves open. Ask the clinician to explain any gap between the study and the claim.
Keep the type of evidence attached
For Selank, memory claims draw on rat studies, while the small patient studies examined anxiety.a
Write down whether the study involved people or animals beside its result. Ask how that result supports a claim about people with your problem.