Reading a scientific paper

Parts of a scientific paper
Scientific papers usually have 4-5 important parts. It’s important when reading scientific literature to look especially at three parts of the paper:

Discussion/Interpretation/Conclusion:
Go down to the bottom of the article and read this first. It explains how the authors interpret the data resulting from this study/experiment. It’s often the most readable part for the public. Sometimes the Conclusions section can actually show different conclusions or interpretations from the abstract. That’s why you should read this section first.

Abstract:
A kind of mini-version of the paper including the problem scientists were looking into, related work in the field, why this paper is new and novel, the most important findings, the overall conclusion, problems that occurred during the experiments. Abstracts can be long and very informative or short and quickly descriptive.

Results:
All the important resulting data from the experiments. Ask yourself, “Does the data actually support the authors’ conclusions and interpretation?” Occasionally it may not, in which case you can file that one away under “Maybe Not.”

After having read the above parts of the paper, fire up your science dictionary app and proceed to the rest of the article.

Methods and Materials:
Exactly how the research for this paper was done. The authors describe  their processes in precise detail that is clear enough so other scientists can replicate the experiments.

Introduction:
The authors broadly explain their hypothesis and talk about previous research in the field. This section may not be there, because this information may be included in the abstract.

Evaluating Information – what to look for in an article:
​There are questions that ALWAYS have to be answered before you take anything seriously that you find in a magazine, on TV, on Facebook, or anywhere on the web.

Ya gotta ask yourself, “Do I feel lucky? Do I feel secure about this information?” Well do ya, reader?!

Answer me this:

• Who are the authors?
• Are the authors experts in the field? What are their credentials?
• What is the thesis of the article? What are the authors trying to convince you of?
• Do the authors discuss information on other work in the field and how the information was found?
• Does the article suggest new questions to be researched in the field?
• How many test subjects were used in the research?
• Has the author “cherry-picked” the information to support a hypothesis?


• Where do the authors work? Is there a conflict of interest?

Click on an article from your Google Scholar search results to select it to see who the authors work for. Is there a conflict of interest? Is the author being paid by a pharmaceutical manufacturer?