Papers for dummies

How to Read a Paper

How to Read a Paper

1. What do I need?

Old School• Printed copy of paper• Pencil, pen• Highlighter

New Kid• Tablet device/computer

with PDF software capable of allowing annotations

• PDF copy of paper

How to Read a Paper

What do I need?

• Patience• Healthy dose of skepticism

How to Read a Paper

2. Read the paper

• Critical thinking process• Don’t assume the authors are always correct. • Be skeptical – apply the rigours of the

scientific model to all research

How to Read a Paper

Some questions to ask

• If the authors attempt to solve a problem, are they solving the right problem?

• What are the limitations of the solution (including limitations the authors might not have noticed or admitted)?

• Are there other solutions the authors do not seem to have considered?

• What are the good ideas in this paper?

How to Read a Paper

Some more questions

• Are the assumptions the authors make reasonable?

• Is the logic of the paper clear and justifiable, given the assumptions, or is there a flaw in the reasoning?

• If the authors present data, did they gather the right data to substantiate their argument?

• Did they gather and interpret the data in the correct manner?

How to Read a Paper

Even more questions

• Would other data or other means of collection of data be more compelling?

• Can the results or ideas be generalised to wider populations?

• Are there improvements that might make important differences?

• If you were going to start doing research from this paper, what would be the next thing you would do?

How to Read a Paper

While reading

• Make notes • Go through the references in the paper • Highlight the key points • Highlight key data• Highlight anything questionable

How to Read a Paper

Some papers may require a number of

readings

3. The Anatomy of a Paper

Authors & Affiliations

Abstract

Introduction

How to Read a Paper

Introduction

• Authors put their research into context• Make a case for what they’re doing, why

they’re doing it and why it’s important• A brief overview of prior related research• Identify gaps in knowledge that they hope to

fill

Methods

How to Read a Paper

Methods

• Explain exactly how they carried out their research

• Detailed, step-by-step explanation of all of themethods

• Theoretically replicate the research and achieve the same results

Results

How to Read a Paper

Results

• Summarises the main findings of the study• Present the results, not discuss them• Graphs, tables, etc. are often used to present

and summarise data

Discussion

How to Read a Paper

Discussion

• Implications of results• Do the results support the authors’ original

hypotheses?• Different ways to interpret the results?• Future research?• Limitations!

References

How to Read a Paper

References

• Sometimes the most useful part of a paper!• Almost always something listed in the

references that you didn’t find yourself (or didn’t even think to look for)

How to Read a Paper

4. Compare

Compare it to similar papers

How to Read a Paper

5. Archive

• File/folder• Endnote• Mendeley• Papers• Zotero• Read by QxMD