About the CERIC Method
Our mission is to make the hidden curriculum of scientific reading explicit and accessible for every learner in higher education.
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The CERIC Method is now a book. How to Critically Read the Scientific Research Literature, published by Cambridge University Press, brings our framework to print for students, educators, and researchers worldwide. Learn more →
Who We Serve
The CERIC Method is designed for learners and educators across higher education who believe that reading scientific literature should not be a gatekept skill.
Students
Undergraduate, graduate, and professional students building scientific literacy skills
International Students
Students reading scientific research in English as an additional language, who face dense, idiom-heavy writing and unfamiliar academic conventions at the same time
Educators
Faculty, instructors, and teaching assistants integrating critical reading into their courses
Program Leaders
Department chairs and program directors seeking scalable literacy frameworks
Librarians
Academic librarians supporting information and scientific literacy initiatives
Program Administrators and Staff
Academic coordinators, curriculum specialists, and support staff who manage program logistics, track student progress, and ensure smooth delivery of critical reading initiatives across departments
Peer Reviewers and Journal Editors
Researchers and scholars who evaluate scientific manuscripts and oversee the publication process, using structured critical reading frameworks to improve review quality and editorial decision-making
The Problem: The Hidden Curriculum
In higher education, students are expected to read, analyze, and critique scientific literature. But most are never taught how. This unspoken expectation is part of what researchers call the hidden curriculum: the implicit skills and knowledge that are assumed but rarely taught. Students who do not come from research-active backgrounds or who are the first in their families to attend college are disproportionately affected.
The result is a gap: capable, motivated students struggle not because they lack the ability to understand science, but because they have never been given a framework for approaching a scientific paper.
The Solution: The CERIC Method
The CERIC Method closes that gap. It provides a clear, structured framework for reading scientific literature through five elements: Claim, Evidence, Reasoning, Implications, and Context. Instead of leaving students to figure it out on their own, CERIC names the skills, breaks them into learnable steps, and builds competence progressively across four scaffolded courses.
The result: students gain confidence, improve their critical thinking, and develop the ability to independently read and discuss primary literature in any scientific discipline.
About the CERIC Method and Its Authors
We are a dynamic team who love helping others learn and thrive
Transform Your Learning
Next Level Critical Reading
“The CERIC Method completely changed how I approach reading papers. It is a powerful tool to make papers accessible that I plan to study more and use in my career.”
Genevive Bjorn, Ed.D.
Research, Learning, and Development
I am an education researcher who studies how higher education shapes—and is shaped by—the evolving demands of the workforce, drawing on my doctoral research and years of teaching experience to investigate the links between learning, skills, and employment. My work focuses on making hidden curricula visible and teachable, helping students and educators thrive in academic environments.
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Adam Burgasser, Ph.D.
Course Development and Integration
I am an observational astronomer who studies the coldest stars, brown dwarfs, and extrasolar planets. My research experience fuels a deep commitment to science education, and I integrate authentic scientific practices into course design and mentoring so learners can engage with data, inquiry, and discovery the way scientists do.
LinkedInThe CERIC Method
Story of The Work
1
Since 2015: Evidence-Based Courses and Workshops
As a science teacher and researcher, Dr. Bjorn recognized a deep need for a better way to teach critical reading of scientific literature. She developed the CER (Claim, Evidence, Reasoning) approach, and Dr. Burgasser later insisted on adding the IC (Implications and Context). CERIC was born.
2
2019-2024: Research-Validated at Johns Hopkins University
Dr. Bjorn's dissertation research and peer-reviewed articles validated the CERIC Method for developing critical reading skills in scientific literature in higher education. More development and adaptation ensued.
3
from 2025: We Wrote the Book and Created CericMethod.com
With overwhelmingly positive feedback from learners using the CERIC Method, we published a book with Cambridge University Press, available digitally in June 2026, and created evidence-based courses, including the Foundations courses available at CericMethod.com.
Genevive's Story
The CERIC Method grew out of a simple observation: students and researchers at every level struggle to critically evaluate the scientific literature they read. What began as a classroom strategy for teaching structured reading skills evolved into a comprehensive, five-step framework—Claim, Evidence, Reasoning, Implications, and Context—designed to make critical analysis accessible, repeatable, and applicable across disciplines. Through years of teaching, feedback, and refinement, the CERIC Method became a full suite of online courses, workshops, and, now, a published guidebook, all built around the belief that scientific literacy is a skill anyone can develop with the right tools and guidance.
The moment I realized the hidden curriculum was a problem occurred while teaching high school chemistry in San Diego, California. Many of my students were first-generation students and learners with neurodifferences, and the traditional process of listening to the master teacher opine on an article, followed by discussing it with peers, produced confusion, anxiety, and fear of research articles—the exact opposite of what I intended. The early experiments with the method's core (Claim, Evidence, Reasoning) began in those high school chemistry classrooms and hit major developmental milestones while I taught international graduate students in Europe and during my doctoral research program at Johns Hopkins. My vision is a future where every teachable skill is taught explicitly, so that anyone who wants to contribute to research has the knowledge and support to do so.
That work with international students also led to my forthcoming book with Clara Fangfang Ma, Effective Communication and Academic Success for International Students (Routledge, 2026), which takes on the unwritten rules of classroom discussion, office hours, and professional communication at English-speaking universities.
Adam's Story
Like my students, my introduction to the primary literature was frustrating and confusing. My first mentor assigned me a research article on ultraluminous infrared galaxies and told me to be prepared to talk about it at our next meeting. I didn't even know what "ultraluminous infrared galaxies" were at that point! I struggled to parse the dense astronomical jargon, understand the measurements, interpret the line graphs, and make sense of the conclusions; forget about critiquing the central argument of the article. It was slow, anxiety-inducing, and left me unsure as to whether I could be a researcher. Fortunately, I had a patient mentor and eventually developed my own strategies to find what I was looking for in a research article. However, that early struggle made me a reluctant reader.
Fast forward to the start of my faculty career, an ambitious assistant professor eager to stay on top of the literature as I competed with colleagues to come up with the best ideas and earn my tenure. Meanwhile, I was juggling teaching, mentoring students, serving on committees, writing research grants, and trying to have personal life somewhere in between. Who has time to read the research literature?
The CERIC Method supports researchers at all levels, from students and seasoned professionals, to engage efficiently with the scientific literature. Its concise structure provides a guide for novice researchers so they can learn to identify the essential elements of a paper, most importantly, the argument that supports a claim. At the same time, CERIC provides a framework for critical review and discussion. Since introducing The CERIC Method to my classroom instruction, I've seen far more "ah ha" moments when a student finds understanding in a research article than the "oh no" moments when struggling to plow through. Our research teams can have informed discussions about the current literature, even in "real time" reading situations. My vision is that The CERIC Method will transform reluctant readers into critical thinkers.