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Reading Guide

Adapted from a method created by Dr. Jennifer Raff

Scholarly papers could be long and hard to understand. When you do your research, often times you need to view multiple papers at a short time. The trick is, sometimes you don't have to read through the whole paper words by words, from top to bottom. There are certain steps you can follow.

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Follow this reading guide and you will learn how to quickly understand the key subjects in a paper. 

Read in Detail

Step 1. Begin by reading the Introduction, not the Abstract.

The Abstract contains a succinct summary of the entire paper, inadvertently biased by the authors’ interpretation of the results. When choosing papers to read, definitely refer to the title and abstract to decide what is relevant to your interests. But once you begin reading the full text for understanding, start with the Introduction.

Step 2. Identify the BIG QUESTION.

Not “What is this paper about?” but “What problem is this entire field trying to solve?” This helps you focus on why this research is being done.  

Step 3. Summarize the background in a few sentences.

Here are some questions to guide you:

What work has been done before in this field to answer the BIG QUESTION? What are the limitations of that work? What, according to the authors, needs to be done next?

This exercise forces you to be concise and really think about the context of this research and why this research has been done.

Step 4. Identify the SPECIFIC QUESTION(s).

What exactly are the authors trying to answer with their research? There may be multiple questions, or just one. Write them down. 

Step 5. Identify the approach.

What are the authors going to do to answer the SPECIFIC QUESTION(s)?

Step 6. Read the Methods (Experimental) section.

Draw a diagram for each experiment, showing exactly what the authors did.

Include in your diagram as much detail as you need to fully understand the work. 

 

As you read the Methods, pay attention to:

  • Initial facts and assumptions;

  • Objects, materials, place, instruments, programs involved;

  • Protocols and methods to collect and analyze data.

Step 7. Read the Results section

Write one or more paragraphs to summarize the results for each experiment, each figure, and each table. Don’t yet try to decide what the results mean, just write down what they are.

 

You’ll find that, particularly in good papers, the majority of the results are summarized in the figures and tables. Pay careful attention to them!  You may also need to go to the Supplementary Online Information file to find some of the results.

 

As you read the Results, pay attention to:

  • Statement about each findings;

  • Links among data identified by the authors;

  • Authors' interpretations.

Step 8. Do the results answer the SPECIFIC QUESTION(s)? What do you think they mean?

Don’t move on until you have thought about this. It’s okay to change your mind in light of the authors’ interpretation—in fact you probably will if you’re still a beginner at this kind of analysis—but it’s a really good habit to start forming your own interpretations before you read those of others.

Step 9. Read the Conclusion/Discussion/Interpretation section.

What do the authors think the results mean? Do you agree? Can you come up with any alternative way of interpreting the results? Do you see anything that the authors missed? (Don’t assume they’re infallible!) What do they propose to do as a next step? Do you agree with that?

Step 10. Now, go back to the beginning and read the Abstract.

Does it match what the authors said in the paper? Does it fit with your interpretation of the paper?

Step 11. Final Step. (Don’t neglect doing this) What do other researchers say about this paper? 

Who are the (acknowledged or self-proclaimed) experts in this particular field? Do they have criticisms of the study that you haven’t thought of, or do they generally support it? For this step you may look through references for the paper to identify similar research. You can also use databases to identify sources that cite this paper.

 

Note that review articles would usually have more citations than journal articles, as many researchers cite them to introduce the topic. The most recent papers, on the other hand, would often display no citations due to short time interval.  

Practice

Practice identifying various sections of the scholarly science paper by reading the annotated manuscripts from Science magazine. 

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