Reading Scientific Papers

To form a truly educated opinion on a scientific subject, you need to become familiar with current research in that field. And to be able to distinguish between good and bad interpretations of research, you have to be willing and able to read the primary research literature for yourself. Reading and understanding research papers is a skill that every single doctor and scientist has had to learn during graduate school. You can learn it too, but like any skill it takes patience and practice.

Reading a scientific paper is a completely different process from reading an article about science in a blog or newspaper. Not only do you read the sections in a different order than they’re presented, but you also have to take notes, read it multiple times, and probably go look up other papers in order to understand some of the details. Reading a single paper may take you a very long time at first, but be patient with yourself. The process will go much faster as you gain experience.

The type of scientific paper discussed here is referred to as a primary research article. It’s a peer-reviewed report of new research on a specific question (or questions). Most articles will be divided into the following sections: abstract, introduction, methods, results, and conclusions/interpretations/discussion. Before you begin reading, take note of the authors and their institutional affiliations, as well as the publication (i.e., the journal the article appeared in) or website. This is a good time to evaluate the credibility of the authors and publisher if it’s not self-evident (see the section on credible sources elsewhere in this course).

Step-by-Step Instructions for Reading a Primary Research Article

1. Begin by reading the introduction, not the abstract. Remember, the abstract is that dense first paragraph at the very beginning of a scholarly article. In fact, it’s often the only part of a paper that many non-scientists read when they’re trying to build a scientific argument. (This is a terrible practice. Don’t do it.) Some intelligent readers choose to read the abstract last, because it contains a succinct summary of the entire paper, so saving it until after you’ve read the full paper may help to prevent your inadvertently becoming biased by the authors’ interpretation of the results.
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. Look closely for evidence of agenda-motivated research.
3. Summarize the background in five sentences or less. 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? You need to be able to succinctly explain why this research has been done in order to understand it.
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.
5. Identify the approach. What are the authors going to do to answer the specific question(s)?
6. Read the methods section. Draw a diagram for each experiment, showing exactly what the authors did. Include as much detail as you need to fully understand the work.
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 often find that results are summarized in the figures and tables. Pay careful attention to them! You may also need to go to supplementary online information files to find some of the results. Also pay attention to:
   • The words “significant” and “non-significant.” These have precise statistical meanings.
   • Graphs. Do they have error bars on them? For certain types of studies, a lack of confidence intervals is a major red flag.
   • The sample size. Has the study been conducted on 10 people, or 10,000 people? For some research purposes a sample size of 10 is sufficient, but for most studies larger is better.
   • Determine whether 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.
8. Read the conclusion/discussion/interpretation section. What do the authors think the results mean? Do you agree with them? Can you come up with any alternative way of interpreting them? Do the authors identify any weaknesses in their own study? Do you see any 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?
9. 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?
10. Find out what other researchers say about the 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? Don’t neglect to do this! Here’s a place where you might want to conduct an online search using Google (or another search engine of your choice). But do it last, so you are better prepared to think critically about what other people say.

Reading Technical Documents

Technical documents generally refer to papers that fall into scientific or mathematical categories, such as lab reports or product proposals. A technical document, therefore, can be a type of scholarly document as well. These strategies can help you to feel comfortable with reading technical documents.

• Recognize the layout / standardization of technical documents, especially articles. Technical writing generally has a consistent writing pattern that allows scientific reports and other writings to be compliant with a journal’s layout. While these layouts will vary from journal to journal, the variation is usually based on the IMRaD format: Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion.Other technical writings, such as manuals, might take on a different form of standardization.  Like papers, they generally rely on concise language and consistent formatting, too.
• Look for headings. Technical documents offer standardization and organization through headings. Unlike scholarly documents in areas like English rhetoric or the social sciences, which typically rely on topic sentences for organization, technical documents rely on headings. Understanding the multiple roles of headings can help you to break down a technical document. Headings are standard features of technical documents that serve several important functions:
  • They provide organizational overview of the document
  • They show logical development of ideas
  • They show hierarchical relationship of ideas (headings, sub-headings)
  • Headings allow the reader to scan and read selectively
  • They increase readability of the document by providing breaks and white space.
• Get an overview. Before diving into the details, it can be important to get an understanding of the overall process or phenomenon described in the document.
• Look up unfamiliar key terms. Many technical documents will use a highly specific vocabulary. Make sure you understand the meaning of key terms in the context of that particular document. Computer code documentation, for instance, might refer to terms like “object,” “instance,” or “class” that have specific meanings for that particular application.
• Take broad and specific notes. Reading a technical document requires taking broad notes. When you read a technical document, you’ll likely want to indicate larger ideas (major details), main ideas, and topics of study from throughout the whole document. However, since you’ll likely be reading a technical document to support a specific instance of claim in your writing, such as a statistic, it is also important to take notes on the specific, minor details, too. This is helpful knowledge, too, especially if you are writing an annotated bibliography entry on a technical document and need to outline a narrowed result.
• Stay in context. Reading technical documents requires an eye for context. As you read and take notes, ensure that you understand the purpose of the study, the outcomes, and how they were intended. Misinterpreting the results could lead to fallacies, so it is vital to understand these elements. To gather the context of the study, look towards the introduction, abstract, and conclusion first. Once you have read through those parts, look back at the methods and results for more information.