How to Read and Comprehend Scientific Research
Articles
Scientific articles are how scholars and researchers
communicate with each other.
Reading scientific articles helps you become
part of the conversation of your discipline,
by learning about the research that has come
before you.
Textbooks, websites, and popular sources are
useful starting places for general information,
but for the most current scholarly information,
there is no substitute for scientific articles.
This tutorial will discuss how to read a scientific
article, how to find the main points of the
article, and how to take effective notes.
Although it seems counterintuitive, the least
effective way to read a scientific article
is from start to finish.
Instead, expert researchers skim articles
to identify key findings.
The structure of scientific articles is defined
by several distinct sections.
Most articles, like lab reports, are divided
into 5 sections: the abstract, the introduction,
the methods, the results, and the discussion.
The most effective way to read an article
is in this order: Abstract, Discussion, Introduction,
Results, and Methods.
By going through articles in this order, you’ll
be able to quickly find the information you
need to determine if the article will be useful.
After you read each section, ask yourself
whether the article is interesting and relevant
enough to your research assignment, which
will help you decide whether to continue reading
it.
Abstracts usually contain four kinds of information,
the purpose or rationale of study (why they
did it), the methodology (how they did it),
results (what they found), and the conclusion
(what it means).
After reading the abstract ask yourself: "is
this article worth reading, or should I move
on to another one?"
The Discussion section provides a clear answer
to the question posed in the Introduction
and explains how their results support their
conclusions.
Once you have read this section, think about
whether you understand and believe the authors’
claims.
Introductions serve two purposes: stimulating
interest in the subject and putting the article
in a larger context.
Generally, introductions do this by leading
readers from the general (what is already
known about the topic) to the specific (what
is not yet known) to the focused question
the authors are asking.
Thus, authors describe previous work and how
their work relates to it.
Before moving on to the next section ask "Why
did the researchers do this study?" and "Does
the research question match up with the conclusions
I read in the discussion?"
The Results section states what the authors
found and key data, often shown in figures
or tables.
Before moving on to the next section ask whether
the data collected is appropriate to answer
the research question and if the data support
the conclusions.
The Methods section tells the reader what
experiments were done to answer the question
stated in the Introduction.
Methods can be difficult to read for students
because of the technical language and a level
of detail sufficient for another trained scientist
to repeat the experiments.
However, you can more fully understand the
design of the experiments and evaluate their
validity by reading the Methods section carefully.
While you are reading through the article
also distinguish the author’s main points.
It can be difficult to distinguish between
the main point and less relevant sub-points.
Key places to look for main points include
the article’s title, the abstract, keywords,
the figure and table titles, and the first
sentence or last couple of sentences in the
Introduction section.
Within the article some useful words to clue
you in on the authors’ main points include
“we hypothesize that”, “we propose”,
“we introduce”.
Another important part of reading and comprehending
scientific articles is taking notes.
Effective note-taking will save you time and
help you clarify your thoughts.
Creating a standard template for taking notes
will help you organize your research, enable
you to make quick comparisons, and will save
you time rereading articles.
Reading scientific articles is challenging,
but reading them in A-D-I-R-M order, correctly
identifying the author’s main points, and
taking effective notes will save you time
and make your research easier.
If you have any questions please contact your
Librarian.
