How to Read a Scientific Paper for Laypeople

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Generally, scientific papers may exist classified either as review papers or as empirical inquiry papers. Both types tin can serve equally excellent sources for a deeper understanding of a item area of scientific research. However, these papers are dense and include terminology that may be intimidating. If you have patience and approach the paper methodically, you'll be able to understand the inquiry presented and contain it into your own work.^[1]

1. 1

   Determine the paper is a review paper. Review papers summarize the data and conclusions of many other papers to requite you lot an overview of a specific topic or field. Typically, y'all'll see the give-and-take "review" in either the title or the abstruse of the paper.^[two]

   • If yous aren't familiar with a particular field, a review paper can give you a better understanding. Review papers tin also help you identify empirical papers you need to read or apply equally sources in your ain work.

2. ii

   Place whether the paper is a narrative review or a systematic review. A narrative review is typically easier to read and provides a broad overview of a detail field of scholarship or area of inquiry. Systematic reviews are more than detailed and may evaluate the methods and information of the papers reviewed.^[3]

   • The authors typically state the blazon of review in the title or the abstract of the paper. Systematic reviews are most common with medical studies.

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3. 3

   Read through the abstract and introduction of the paper. The abstract is a summary of the review paper, including the question asked and the answer plant by the authors of the paper. The introduction explains the reason the authors chose to undertake the review.^[four]

   • After reading the abstract and the introduction, if you determine that the paper is non relevant to your interests, there's no demand to read any further.

4. 4

   Assess the blueprint of the review critically. A systematic review combines the results from several different studies to produce a more than comprehensive understanding of the area of enquiry. However, this is simply constructive if the review includes both published and unpublished studies that used the same methodology.

   • In some areas of research, the outcomes of published studies differ from the outcomes of unpublished studies. A review that only includes published studies does not present the full motion-picture show of the state of research in that area.
   • Some review papers may consider studies of different types, peculiarly in an emerging area of enquiry where there oasis't been a lot of studies completed.

5. 5

   Jump to the results section of the paper. Reading the results section first lets you know what to wait for as yous read through the rest of the newspaper. Once you know what the authors concluded, y'all tin can focus on the data in the studies reviewed that support that conclusion.^[v]

   • The results section should exist logically organized and relatively easy for you to follow. It also typically includes a summary of the number of studies of any given blazon that were reviewed by the authors.

6. 6

   Analyze the methodology of the review carefully. For a review paper, the methodology section will talk over how studies were selected for inclusion in the review. This includes the criteria used by the authors of the review and the data sources they searched for studies to include.^[6]

   • The authors typically will include a discussion of criteria they used to make up one's mind whether a study should be included in their review. Think about whether these criteria introduced any bias into the review.
   • Methodology also includes a description of how the results of the studies reviewed were synthesized past the authors of the review. Through synthesis, the review comes to a new (typically broader) conclusion than whatsoever of the individual studies reviewed.^[7]

7. 7

   Study the graphs that nowadays the synthesized information. A systematic review newspaper makes use of graphs known equally "forest plots" to evaluate all the results from all the studies included in the review. Once you know how to interpret them, you lot may find forest plots easier to read than other statistical graphs.^[eight]

   • Along the horizontal is the condition or handling being analyzed by the review. The vertical axis represents no issue. To the left of this axis, studies last handling was effective will be plotted according to how extreme their results were. On the right of the axis, studies are plotted that favored the command, rather than the treatment or intervention.
   • With most reviews, you should exist able to tell at a glance whether the majority of the studies favored the treatment or intervention.

   Study Woods Plots Closely: In improver to the basic graph, forest plots include a wealth of other information, including the names of the authors of the studies reviewed, the year each reviewed study was conducted or published, and the number of patients in the treatment and command groups in each study.

8. viii

   Go back through the paper from outset to end. Now that you have a strong understanding of the review and its methodology, yous'll be better able to make sense of the rest of the newspaper. Read actively, taking notes as you lot go. Make notes of individual empirical papers included in the review that y'all might want to read on your own.^[9]

   • If you see anything yous don't understand, highlight it or make a note of information technology. You can look information technology up online afterwards, or check a scientific dictionary.
   • Taking notes as you read can assistance yous paraphrase information from the paper in your ain writing later, without worrying that y'all're plagiarizing the original source.

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1. one

   Glance over the title and section headings. The title and department headings of the paper give y'all a basic understanding of what the paper is well-nigh. They likewise help you lot go a experience for the structure of the paper and how information technology'south organized.^[10]

   • Accept note of any sections that appear longer or denser in relation to the other sections of the paper. It may take more of your time to read through those.
   • The championship and the section headings likewise requite you an idea of whether the paper is relevant to your interests and how difficult information technology will be to encompass. If the title and section headings include terminology you lot don't understand, you may want to do some background reading and then come back to information technology.

2. two

   Read the abstract to determine whether the paper volition be useful for you. The abstract is a summary of the newspaper as a whole. It volition tell you what questions the authors sought to reply, the experiments they conducted, and the answers they found.^[11]

   • Typically you tin can access the abstruse of a paper, even if you can't read the whole matter. For example, you may find an article published in a journal yous can't read without a subscription. The abstract will permit you determine whether the full commodity is something yous should read.
   • If later on reading the abstract, information technology doesn't seem like the newspaper would be beneficial for you to read, there'south no need to read whatsoever farther.

3. 3

   Continue with the introduction if the paper seems relevant. The introduction places the paper in context. It will let you know what is already known nearly the general topic, and how this paper fits in with the broader line of scholarship.^[12]

   • The introduction gives you a piddling more information nigh the questions the authors sought to answer, and how those questions fit into the larger field of scholarship.
   • If the newspaper falls into a field of study that you're non familiar with, the introduction may bespeak you towards resource you can use to gain plenty information to properly understand the newspaper.

4. 4

   Review articles near the topic as necessary. If you're not familiar with the topic of the paper or the questions the authors are trying to answer, you may demand to do a petty groundwork reading before you lot'll be able to sympathise the paper.^[13]

   • For example, if you're confronted in the introduction with a lot of terminology you don't understand, wait for a general overview or review commodity that will provide you with the background y'all need.
   • Yous may also want to employ scientific dictionaries or other reference books to go a better agreement of words and phrases you aren't familiar with.

   Tip: If you don't have much knowledge of the field, a comprehensive overview designed for a layperson will give you greater familiarity without weighing you downwardly with terminology. Then you lot tin can render to the scientific paper with a greater understanding.

5. five

   Look at the paper's conclusions. Reading the conclusion before y'all dig into the meat of the experiments gives you a improve ability to analyze the data and evaluate the data in context. Skip forward to the end of the paper and read the determination section that summarizes the authors' findings.^[fourteen]

   • Accept annotation of the conclusions the authors made so you tin can refer to them every bit you lot read through the data.
   • If you don't sympathize the decision, you may want to do boosted background reading before excavation into the data.

6. vi

   Study the materials and methods sections carefully. Bold y'all've gotten this far and have decided that yous need to read the newspaper, move forward to the paper's methodology section. If the authors used a method you're not familiar with, you may want to exercise a picayune background research on that method earlier standing.^[15]

   • Make sure you understand what the authors did, and how they did information technology. Await for potential holes or biases in the authors' method.
   • If the method doesn't seem like the best possible method to answer the questions, compare the methods y'all thought would work better. Jot down why you lot think your method would work better than the method used in the written report.

7. 7

   Evaluate the figures included in the paper. Most scientific papers include tables, charts, and graphs that summarize the information collected in the report. These figures permit you to look at all the data together and grade your own conclusions on that information.^[xvi]

   • Depending on the methods used, the figures may allow yous to analyze the data more easily than you would by but reading the paper. By looking at the figures, you get a general thought of how the study was conducted without fifty-fifty reading the paper.
   • Retrieve critically about the way the data is presented in the figures. Ask yourself if the data could take been represented in a clearer way. Y'all tin also consider if the figures chosen represent a bias on the part of the authors, or if they are attempting to present the information in a way that supports their conclusions.

   Pay attention to the figures! Authors often don't have enough space to talk over all information gathered in detail. The charts and graphs included in the paper often include information not discussed in the text of the paper, and may exist more of import than the text itself.

8. 8

   Read the narrative sections that discuss the raw data. In one case you've looked at the figures, dig into the narrative sections of the paper that present the data and draw how it was gathered. Await for potential flaws in the gathering of the data that might bear upon the results.^[17]

   • Typically, the authors utilise the text to highlight the information they felt was well-nigh important in the study. This is the data they used to back up their conclusions. Compare the data described in the text with the information in the figures. Ask yourself if they left out important information that may accept led to a different conclusion.
   • The information may enhance boosted questions non discussed by the authors. Formulate a hypothesis as to why that data was ignored.

9. 9

   Go through the whole paper again from get-go to finish. Afterwards focusing on each department, read the newspaper actively. Take notes in the margins or on a dissever canvas of paper as you read. Highlight or underline cardinal phrases in the text.^[18]

   • Be on the scout for words such as "surprising" or "unexpected," which volition give y'all clues equally to how the authors interpreted the data they gathered.
   • Phrases such equally "in contrast with previous work" or "has seldom been addressed" help you put the paper in the context of the overall field of scholarship.
   • Words such equally "propose," "suggest," or "hypothesize alert you to conclusions the authors are making. They may also betoken to unanswered questions that invite further research.

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1. 1

   Check references to proceeds a better agreement of the paper's context. The previous scholarship the authors reference tin assist you place the paper in a continuous line of research. These prior researchers paved the mode for this paper, or may have raised questions this newspaper seeks to reply.^[19]

   • Some fields may have competing theories – specially in a new or developing surface area of study. If the authors accept chosen one theory over another, consider how the competing theory might relate to this written report.
   • If the paper's conclusions differ from conclusions in similar studies, compare the methodology of the two different studies. Attempt to determine why the two studies came up with different conclusions.

2. 2

   Relate the paper's findings to your knowledge of the field. If you already have a basic familiarity with the subject, figure out how the paper relates to what you lot already know. Attempt to connect the newspaper to other resources you've already evaluated.^[twenty]

   • For example, if you've studied neurology, y'all might relate an article on the plasticity of the brain with another article you've read about recovery from traumatic encephalon injury.
   • Consider how the report'south findings may affect the findings of other studies. They may be considered shocking or disruptive in the field, or may overturn previously held behavior.

3. 3

   Look at citing articles for other interpretations of the paper. If the newspaper is more than a twelvemonth old, it's likely that other scholars in the field have cited the paper in their research. The more than citing references a paper has, the more reliable the results potentially are. However, you have to look at the context within which the paper is cited.^[21]

   • Pull up the articles that cite the paper you lot just read. Determine if they cited it favorably or unfavorably. If other papers have pointed out flaws in the methodology or in the authors' conclusions, it may non be a paper you want to rely on.
   • If other authors have cited the newspaper approvingly, or appear to have the result, this potentially gives the paper more weight. The authors and their conclusions are by and large accepted by other scholars in the field.

   Tip: A search engine such as Google Scholar allows you to search specifically for citations to the newspaper you've read. Even if yous can't admission the total newspaper, you lot'll typically be able to see the context in which the article was cited.

4. 4

   Include an appropriate citation if you lot mention the paper in your own work. Proper commendation lets your readers know that yous've washed the appropriate research for your own paper. You also give your readers information to read the papers themselves.^[22]

   • Citations are made upwardly of a footnote or parenthetical commendation in the body of your paper, besides as a full list of references at the end of your paper. The format depends on the commendation way you're using.
   • Include an in-text commendation every time you mention the newspaper in your own work, or talk about any conclusions drawn past the authors of the paper.

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• If you're having a difficult time agreement a paper, attempt putting the subject of the paper into your own words and telling a friend exterior the field about it. Their questions tin help yous amend sympathise the newspaper.^[23]

• As you read, either highlight or write down words or phrases that you don't sympathize. When you're done, go back and look them up online or in a scientific dictionary to gain a better understanding of the newspaper.^[24]

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Article Summary 10

To read a scientific newspaper, start by skimming the championship and section headings to get a feel for the structure of the paper. Next, read the abstract and introduction for more information about the field of study matter and the questions the writer sought to reply in the paper. And then, skim for keywords and phrases, taking notes and underlining of import terms as you lot go. Pay attention to raw data and any figures included and consider checking out the references to gain a better agreement of the context. For more tips on reading actively, coil down!

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