Reading scientific papers

Reading scientific papers

8/14/ · There are three main reasons people read scientific papers: 1) interest in a particular topic, 2) to gain information needed for treating patients, or 3) to inform new scientific research. With so many papers being published in so many places now, even professionals can use tips on how to efficiently read journal articles 3/21/ · Although it is clear that reading scientific papers becomes easier with experience, the stumbling blocks are real, and it is up to each scientist to identify and apply the techniques that work 5/5/ · The goal of the first pass is to get the big picture of the paper and should not take longer than 10 minutes. You don’t have to get into the details or even read the paper in its entirety. Glance over the paper and see how it is structured. Look at the sections and sub-sections but ignore their content

Your Guide to Reading Scientific Papers | Mayo Clinic Connect

Although it is clear that reading scientific papers becomes easier with experience, the stumbling blocks are reading scientific papers, and it is up to each scientist to identify and apply the techniques that work best for them. The responses have been edited for clarity and brevity. I start by reading the abstract. Then, I skim the introduction and flip through the article to look at the figures.

I try to identify the most prominent one or two figures, and I really make sure I understand what's going on in them. Only when I have done that will I go back into the technical details to clarify any questions I might have. I first get a general idea by reading the abstract and conclusions.

The conclusions help me understand if the goal summarized in the abstract has been reached, and if the described work can be of interest for my own study.

Then I usually read the entire article from beginning to end, going through the sections in the order they appear so that I can follow the flow of work that the reading scientific papers want to communicate.

If you want to make it a productive exercise, you need to have reading scientific papers clear idea of which kind of information you need to get in the first place, and then focus on that aspect. It could be to compare your results with the ones presented by the authors, put your own analysis into context, or extend it using the newly published data, reading scientific papers. Citation lists can help you decide why the paper may be most relevant to you by giving you a first impression of how colleagues that do reading scientific papers research as you do may have used the paper.

I think the figures are the most important part of the paper, because the abstract and body of the paper can be manipulated and shaped to tell a compelling story, reading scientific papers.

If I want to delve deeper into the paper, I typically read it in its entirety and then also read a few of the previous papers from that reading scientific papers or other articles on the same topic. If there is a reference after a statement that I find particularly interesting or controversial, I also look it up.

Should I need more detail, I access any provided data repositories or supplemental information. Then, if the authors' research is similar to my own, I see if their relevant data match our findings or if there are any inconsistencies. If there are, I think about what could be causing them, reading scientific papers.

Additionally, I think about what would happen in our reading scientific papers if we used the same methods as they did and what we could learn reading scientific papers that. Sometimes, it is also important to pay attention to why the authors decided to conduct an experiment in a certain way.

Did the authors use an obscure test instead of a routine assay, and why would they do this? Bornigerreading scientific papers candidate in neuroscience at Ohio State University, Columbus. I always start with title and abstract. I then read the introduction so that I can understand the question being framed, and jump right to the figures and tables so I can get a feel for the data.

I then read the discussion to get an idea of how the paper fits into the general body of knowledge. I pay attention to acknowledgement of limitations and proper inference of data.

Some people stretch their claims more than others, and that can be a red flag for me. I also put on my epidemiologist hat so that I can try to make sure the study design is adequate to actually test the hypotheses being examined.

As I go deeper into the argument framing, figures, and reading scientific papers, I also think about which pieces are exciting and new, which ones are biologically or logically relevant, and which ones are most supported by the literature, reading scientific papers.

I also consider which pieces fit with my pre-existing hypotheses and research questions. My reading strategy depends on the paper. Sometimes I start by skimming through to see how much might be relevant. But I always try to figure out if there are particular places or figures that I need to pay close attention to, and then I go and read the related information in the results and discussion. Reading scientific papers also check if there are references that I may be interested in.

Sometimes I am curious to see who in the field has—or more likely reading scientific papers not—been referenced, to see whether the authors are choosing to ignore certain aspects of the research.

I often find that the supplementary figures actually offer the most curious and interesting results, especially if the results relate to parts of the field that the authors did not reference or if they are unclear or unhelpful to their interpretation of the overall story.

When reading papers, it helps me to have a writing task so that I am being an active reader instead of letting my eyes glaze over mountains of text only to forget everything I just read, reading scientific papers.

So for example, when I read for background information, I will save informative sentences from each article about a specific topic in a Word document. I'll write comments along the way about new ideas I got or questions I need to explore further. Likewise, when I want to figure out how to conduct a particular experiment, reading scientific papers, I create a handy table in Excel summarizing how a variety of research teams went about doing a particular experiment.

Coluccireading scientific papers, doctoral candidate at the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology program. I usually start with the abstract, which gives me a brief snapshot of what the study is all about. Then I read the entire article, leaving the methods to the end unless I can't make sense of the results or I'm unfamiliar with the experiments. The results and methods sections allow you to pull apart a paper to ensure it stands up to scientific rigor.

Always think about the type of experiments performed, and whether these are the most appropriate to address the question proposed. Ensure that the authors have included relevant and sufficient numbers of controls. Often, conclusions can also be based on a limited number of samples, which limits their significance. I like to print out the paper and highlight the most reading scientific papers information, so on a quick rescan I can be reminded of the major points.

Most relevant points would be things that change your thinking about your research topic or give you new ideas and directions. What I choose to read is based on relation to my research areas and things that are generating lots of interest and discussion because they are driving the way we do psychology, reading scientific papers, or science more widely, in new directions. Most often, what I am trying to get out of the papers is issues of methodology, experimental design, and statistical analysis.

And so for me, the most important section is first what the authors did methods and second what they found results. It can also be interesting to understand why the authors thought they were doing the study introduction and what they think the results mean discussion.

When it is an area that I know a lot about, I don't usually care much about these sections because they often reflect the authors' theoretical predilections and one of many ways to think about the method and results.

But when it is an area that I know very little about, I read these closely because then I learn a lot about the assumptions and explanatory approaches in that area of research. First I read very fast: The point of the first reading is simply to see whether the paper is interesting for me. If it is I read it a second time, slower and with more attention to detail. If the paper is vital to my research—and if it is theoretical—I would reinvent the paper.

In such cases, I only take the starting point and then work out everything else on my own, not looking into the paper. Sometimes this is a painfully slow process, reading scientific papers. Sometimes I get angry about the authors not writing clearly enough, omitting essential points and dwelling on superfluous nonsense.

Sometimes I am electrified by a paper. I nearly always read the abstract first and only continue on to the paper if the abstract indicates that the paper will be of value to me. Then, if the topic reading scientific papers the paper is one I know well, I generally skim the introduction, reading its last paragraph to make sure I know the specific question being addressed in the paper.

Then I look at the figures and tables, either read or skim the results, and lastly skim or read the discussion, reading scientific papers. If the topic is not one I know well, I usually read the introduction much more carefully so that the study is placed into context for me. Then I skim the figures and tables and read the results. Foxprofessor in the Department of Entomology at the University of Kentucky in Lexington.

It is important to reading scientific papers that shortcuts have to be taken when reading papers so that there is time left to get our other work done, including writing, conducting research, attending meetings, teaching, and grading papers.

Starting as a Ph. student, I have been reading the conclusions and methods of academic journal articles and chapters rather than entire books. As editor-in-chief of ScienceI have to read and comprehend papers outside of my field all the time. Next, I check to see if someone wrote a News article on the reading scientific papers. Third, I check to see if there is a Perspective by another scientist.

The main goal of a Perspective is to broaden the message of the paper, but often the authors do a great job of extracting the essence of the reading scientific papers for non-specialists at the same time, reading scientific papers. Then I tackle the abstract, which has been written to broadly communicate to the readership of the journal. Finally, I move on to the paper itself, reading scientific papers, reading, in order, reading scientific papers, the intro, conclusions, scanning the figures, and then reading the paper through.

McNuttEditor-in-Chief, Science journals. If it's only a few things in the article, I'll make a note to look them up later. If I am really struggling to proceed through the paper, I try to look up a review article or a textbook chapter to give me the necessary background to proceed, which I generally find much more efficient, reading scientific papers.

There are a lot of acronyms and jargon that can be subfield-specific, so I usually don't wade through the details unless it's for my own research. But I always try to take my time to really understand the methods being used, reading scientific papers. This can backfire a bit, though, as I often go down never-ending rabbit holes after looking something up What is X? Oh, X influences Y.

Sometimes, all the jargon in a paper can cloud the whole point of the experiments in the first place. It depends on how much the non-understandable bits prevent me from following the main ideas. I usually do not try to understand all the details in all the sections the first time I read a paper. If non-understandable parts appear important for my research, I try to ask colleagues or even contact the lead author directly.

Going back to the original references to get all the background information is the last resort, because time can be limited and collaborations and personal contacts can be much more efficient in solving specific problems. Sometimes, you can just read through a paper and any terms you're not familiar with will become clearer by the end. If it is very heavy going, then stopping and seeking additional information is usually the way to go.

I do a quick Google search on the topic, theme, method, jargon, etc, reading scientific papers. If it is a very dense article, sometimes it will require a few read-throughs before it all starts to make sense. If I can't do anything with the paper unless I don't understand that depth, then I do more background research.

Lately, I have had to read a number of papers outside my area of expertise with a lot of unfamiliar jargon. In some cases, I am able to directly extract the information I need from the results or figures and tables. In other cases, reading scientific papers, I use Google searches to define terms and concepts in the paper or read the cited references to better understand the points being made, reading scientific papers.

Occasionally, papers are so reading scientific papers to me, at least that I don't bother reading them. All the time.

How to read a Research Paper ? Made easy for young researchers.

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Infographic: How to read a scientific paper

8/14/ · There are three main reasons people read scientific papers: 1) interest in a particular topic, 2) to gain information needed for treating patients, or 3) to inform new scientific research. With so many papers being published in so many places now, even professionals can use tips on how to efficiently read journal articles Reading Scientific Papers Step 1: Preview the Scientific Paper Before you begin to read a scientific paper, consider how it relates to the course, Step 2: Read for Understanding and Analysis Each section of a scientific paper is carefully organized to present Step 3: Reflect and Take Notes 5/5/ · The goal of the first pass is to get the big picture of the paper and should not take longer than 10 minutes. You don’t have to get into the details or even read the paper in its entirety. Glance over the paper and see how it is structured. Look at the sections and sub-sections but ignore their content