IntroductionReading research papers (primary articles) is partly a matter of experience and skill, and partly learning the specific vocabulary of a field. First of all, don’t panic! If you approach a primary article step by step, even an impossible looking paper can be understood.
Procedure:
The Four Steps: Skimming, Vocabulary, Comprehension, and Analysis
1. Skimming. Skim the paper quickly, noting basics like headings, figures, and the like. This takes just a few minutes. You are not trying to understand it yet; you just need to get an overview of what is ahead.
2. Vocabulary. Go through the paper word by word and line by line, underlining or highlighting every word and phrase you do not understand. Don’t worry if there are a lot of words you don’t know. There are several things you might do with these underlined words and phrases, depending on the nature of the words. You can:
a) Look up simple words and phrases. Often, the problem is simply unfamiliar vocabulary–what is a lateral malleolus, or a crista, or the semilunar valve? The first and best source is often a textbook, either your course textbook or another one you find. Textbook glossaries tend to give definitions that are the most useful, in that they are in the context of the subject. Better yet, look up the term in the index of the text, and you may find an illustration showing just what that thing is and what it does in the body. A medical or biological dictionary is also a good place to look for definitions. Your ordinary shelf dictionary is not a good source, because the definitions may not be precise enough or may not reflect the way in which scientists use a word. (For example “efficiency” has a common definition, but the scientific definition is much more precise.)
b) Get an understanding from the context in which the word or phrase is used. Words that are used to describe the procedures used in an experiment can often be understood from the context, and may be very specific to the paper you are reading. Examples are the “lithium-free control group” in a rat experiment or the “carotene extraction procedure” in a biochemical experiment. Of course, you should be careful when deciding that you understand a word from its context, because it might not mean what you think it means.
c) Flag the phrase as belonging to one of the major concepts of the paper. For
example, a paper about biomechanics kept mentioning the “inherent elasticity” of muscles. This refers to the muscles’ resistance to stretch when they were not contracting, but it also was one of the central concepts around which the paper revolved—the question whether “inherent elasticity” was sufficient to keep people standing upright or if, instead, muscles needed to actively contract.
3. Comprehension, section by section. Try to deal with all the words and phrases, although a few technical terms in the Methods section might remain. Now go back and read the whole paper, section by section, for comprehension. In the Introduction, note the overall context. What larger question does this study pose? What does the author say about previous research? What is the hypothesis of the paper and how will it be tested?
In the Methods section, try to get a clear picture of what was done at each step. What was actually measured and how was it measured? How did they try to test their hypothesis?It is a good idea to make an outline and/or sketch of the procedures and instruments. Keep notes of your questions; some of them may be simply technical, but others may point to more fundamental considerations that you will use for reflection and criticism later.
In the Results section, look carefully at the figures and tables, as they are the heart of most papers. A scientist will often read the figures and tables before deciding whether it is worthwhile to read the rest of the article! What does it mean to “understand” a figure? You understand a figure when you can redraw it and explain it in plain language. What did the researchers find with their test?
The Discussion section includes the conclusions that the author would like to draw from the data. In some papers, this section contains a lot of interpretation and is very important. In any case, this is usually where the author reflects on the work and its meaning in relation to other findings and to the field in general. How do the authors’ explain their research findings in relation to their original hypothesis? Do they pose more questions?
4. Analysis. After you understand the article and can summarize it, then you can return to broader questions and draw your own conclusions. It is very useful to keep track of your questions as you go along, returning to see whether they have been answered. Often, the simple questions may contain the seeds of very deep thoughts about the work—for example, “Why did the authors use a questionnaire at the end of the menstrual cycle to find out about premenstrual tension? Wouldn’t subjects forget or have trouble recalling by the end of the cycle?” What follows are some questions that may be useful in analyzing various kinds of research papers.
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