How to Read a Scientific Article

Every time I read a scientific article, I am reminded that I am stupid. Sure, the article is written in English and I speak English. Those are definitely English words. But, I have no idea what all those specific English words mean when arranged in the sequence in the article.

I must remember that I am not reading the newest edition of a page-turning novel by New York Times Bestseller Maggie Shayne (she was my student once!). I have to remember that what I am reading is not a page-turner. The scientific article does not contain romance, danger, and adventure. It does not contain character arcs or any of that stuff that you and I have tried to forget about ENG101. It contains really hard sentences to read. That is what it contains.

Someone once asked me if I was a parts-to-whole person or a whole-to-parts person. I’ve come to realize that I am a parts to whole person. I like to see all the parts laid out in front of me. If I get that visual, I can figure out what you want me to build. At my annual family gathering in New Jersey (where only the strong survive), we’ll have a 1,000 piece puzzle that gets done over the hours of the gathering. I never look at the picture. I look at the pieces or the parts, not the whole. My brother lives and dies by the picture…and I just realized why we haven’t spoken to each other in a decade.

After you have read, oh, say 100 papers, you start to get a feel for how to read them. I don’t mean that you get a feel for the “right” way to read them. You get a feel for how your brain likes to receive this type of content. There are many suggestions for how to correctly read a scientific paper. You have to find which one works for you.

How to (seriously) Read a Scientific Paper

Written by Elisabeth Pain, Published on Science.org, 2016

The beauty of the webpage entitled How to (seriously) Read a Scientific Paper is that it doesn’t tell you how to correctly read a scientific article. This webpage is full of quotes from students as to how they go about reading a scientific article. Everyone’s suggestions are different. One of the suggestions will speak to you.

Template for Taking Notes on Research Articles:

• Journal,
• Volume #, Issue #, pages:
• If web access: url; date accessed
• Key Words:
• General subject:
• Specific subject:
• Hypothesis:
• Methodology:
• Result(s):
• Summary of key points:
• Context (how this article relates to other work in the field; how it ties in with key issues and findings by others, including yourself):
• Significance (to the field; in relation to your own work):
• Important Figures and/or Tables (brief description; page number):
• Cited References to follow up on (cite those obviously related to your topic AND any papers frequently cited by others because those works may well prove to be essential as you develop your own work):
• Other Comments:

A scientific article can’t be understood after one reading. I had a very intimidating professor as my graduate advisor. I bet even he has to read an article more than once. I know I do. Even if you don’t read the article from beginning to end more than once, you will read sentences and paragraphs multiple times. You will also read entire sections several times. This happens as you refer back and forward to information. The perk of reading an article more than once is that you feel less and less stupid with each reading.

Accept that you will be “lost” upon the first reading of the article. Your first foray into the author’s life’s work is not meant to yield comprehension. Familiarity is more appropriate for your purpose of the first read. Comprehension does not come until the third or fourth read of an article. It’s similar to how you won’t sit down at a piano for the first time and flawlessly play Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor. Keeping this in mind forces you to choose articles that are short. If it’s too long for you to want to read, then I don’t want to read it either. AI often references articles that are 20+ pages because, well, AI can read it in 30 seconds. You and I can’t. Don’t use those articles.

Skimming, Screening, and Not Really Reading the Article

Titles of scientific articles are long. Have you ever seen one that’s like a paragraph? That makes me laugh. And that rhymes. Titles of articles are often very revealing as to the independent and dependent variables of a study. Authors want to tell you what they are researching and how they are doing it. In this case, less is not more. It is essential that you look up any terms in the title that you don’t know the meaning of. That term is probably used more than in the title, so…look it up.

Some articles will have a list of key words at the beginning of them. This is common in medicine-focused journals, and is especially useful in finding prescription drug trials and differential diagnoses. As with the terms in the title, look them up. If you want to read this language of science, you need to start with a vocabulary list. Such a list can prove to be essential when you are three-pages deepAway from the surface of the body. into the article and forget what rhabdomyolysisBreakdown of muscle tissue releasing contents into the blood, can damage kidneys. is.

Read the abstract. Then, read it again. Maybe read it out loud, forcing you to recognize sentence structure and enhance understanding. No one is listening, go ahead. If there are terms in the abstract that you are unfamiliar with, you know what to do. Careful reading of an abstract can sometimes be more useful than careful reading of the paper itself. The abstract is a super-concise form of the paper. A good abstract will have 1 or maybe 2 sentences summarizing each section A cut or slice of the body or an organ for study. of the paper. Can you spot which sentences belong to which sections? You are not going to get a full explanation or description of anything with an abstract. You will get an abstract idea of what the experimenters did (pun intended).

The Introduction is a Mini Essay of the Experiment

Introductions can have less technical writing in them and can be easier to read compared to other sections of the paper. When you write a lab paper, the introduction section should be the last section your write. The perspective of writing it last provides the reader with everything they need to understand the experiment. The introduction is the author saying: “Here’s what we did, why we did it, maybe even what we found, but here is all the stuff you need to understand it all.”

Introductions consolidate information needed to understand the experiment. The experiment isn’t based on the wild claims of a nutty professor. The experiment is an extension of what is currently known in science. The introduction consolidates what is currently known and cites it all for you too. If there is something in the introduction section you don’t understand, it is probably well cited for you to investigate. Don’t deny yourself of that investigation. It can make the difference of reading an article and “getting it” or reading it 100 times and never “getting it.” Either way, git some.

Fishing for Information in the Article’s Pond

At this point, there are two things worth looking at before reading the entire article. First is the discussion section. Second are the pretty pictures. You aren’t spoiling the end by reading the discussion. A good abstract should tell you the ending. You might see some of the citations used in the introduction section in the discussion section. Try to look back to the intro and consolidate info from sources together in your headRounded proximal end that fits into the acetabulum of the hip bone.. You might see some of the strong justifications in the intro supported or refuted in the discussion. Make note of that. Spoiling the ending helps prevent misinformation. It also helps avoid confusion in the logic of the methods and results sections.

Review any figures, tables, and pictures. You are not doing this to understand the data. You are doing this to

Scientists write original research papers primarily to present new data. This data may change the collective knowledge of a field or reinforce it. Therefore, the most important parts of this type of scientific paper are the data. Some people like to scrutinize the figures and tables. They include legends. They do this before reading any of the “main text.” They believe all of the important information should be obtained through the data. Others prefer to read the results section. They examine the figures and tables as they are sequentially addressed in the text. There is no correct or incorrect approach: Try both to see what works best for you. The key is making sure that one understands the presented data and how it was obtained.

For each figure, work to understand each x- and y-axes and color scheme. Examine the statistical approach if one was used. Consider why the particular plotting approach was chosen. For each table, identify what experimental groups and variables are presented. Identify what is shown and how the data were collected. This is typically summarized in the legend or caption. However, it often requires digging deeper into the methods. Do not be afraid to refer back to the methods section frequently. This helps to ensure a full understanding of how the presented data were obtained. Again, ask the questions in Rule 3 for each figure or panel and conclude with articulating the “take home” message.

Reading the Entire Article

Early on, it can take a long time to read one article front to back, and this can be intimidating. Break down your understanding of each section of the work with these questions to make the effort more manageable. Skim the abstract and the introduction once again. At this point you should be able to have an adequate understanding of them. Skim the methods section. Study the methods section carefully. This is necessary only if you intend to use some of the procedures in your research.

Certain parts of the methods, such as where the chemicals were purchased or whence the viral strains were obtained do not actually contribute to an understanding of the article and may be safely omitted. Other parts of the methods may remain obscure even after the rest of the article is fairly clear. For our purposes, the methods should be studied only in so far as they contribute to the understanding of the rest of article.

Increase Your Understanding

Reread the article in its entirety. You may wish to read several times. Be sure to write on the article. Circle words you do not know. Check important points. Question things you do not understand or that do not appear to make sense. X-off things that are wrong. Jot down further ideas or questions. Consult the references. Look up points that were not fully explained. Consult textbook to clarify points of general biology. Look up words that are unfamiliar. Before leaving the article, reread the abstract once again.

When reading, ask yourself:

(1) What do the author(s) want to know (motivation)?

(2) What did they do (approach/methods)?

(3) Why was it done that way (context within the field)?

(4) What do the results show (figures and data tables)?

(5) How did the author(s) interpret the results (interpretation/discussion)?

(6) What should be done next? (Regarding this last question, the author(s) may provide some suggestions in the discussion, but the key is to ask yourself what you think should come next.)

Each of these questions can and should be asked about the complete work as well as each table, figure, or experiment within the paper.

•How to read a scientific article.  Mary Purugganan & Jan Hewitt, Rice University www.owlnet.rice.edu/~cainproj/courses/HowToReadSciArticle.pdf

•How to read a scientific paper.  John W. Little & Roy Parker–University of Arizona  www.biochem.arizona.edu/classes/bioc568/papers.htm