How to Read a Scientific Paper 如何阅读科学性论文.docx
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How to Read a Scientific Paper 如何阅读科学性论文.docx
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HowtoReadaScientificPaper如何阅读科学性论文
HowtoReadaScientificPaper
Themainpurposeofascientificpaperistoreportnewresults,usuallyexperimental,andtorelatetheseresultstopreviousknowledgeinthefield.Papersareoneofthemostimportantwaysthatwecommunicatewithoneanother.
Inunderstandinghowtoreadapaper,weneedtostartatthebeginningwithafewpreliminaries.Wethenaddressthemainquestionsthatwillenableyoutounderstandandevaluatethepaper.
1. Howarepapersorganized?
2. HowdoIpreparetoreadapaper,particularlyinanareanotsofamiliartome?
3. WhatdifficultiescanIexpect?
4. HowdoIunderstandandevaluate thecontentsofthepaper?
1.Organizationofapaper
Inmostscientificjournals,scientificpapersfollowastandardformat.Theyaredividedintoseveralsections,andeachsectionservesaspecificpurposeinthepaper.Wefirstdescribethestandardformat,thensomevariationsonthatformat.
Apaperbeginswithashort Summary or Abstract.Generally,itgivesabriefbackgroundtothetopic;describesconciselythemajorfindingsofthepaper;andrelatesthesefindingstothefieldofstudy.Aswillbeseen,thislogicalorderisalsothatofthepaperasawhole.
Thenextsectionofthepaperisthe Introduction.Inmanyjournalsthissectionisnotgivenatitle.Asitsnameimplies,thissectionpresentsthebackgroundknowledgenecessaryforthereadertounderstandwhythefindingsofthepaperareanadvanceontheknowledgeinthefield.Typically,theIntroductiondescribesfirsttheacceptedstateofknowledgeinaspecializedfield;thenitfocusesmorespecificallyonaparticularaspect,usuallydescribingafindingorsetoffindingsthatleddirectlytotheworkdescribedinthepaper.Iftheauthorsaretestingahypothesis,thesourceofthathypothesisisspelledout,findingsaregivenwithwhichitisconsistent,andoneormorepredictionsaregiven.Inmanypapers,oneorseveralmajorconclusionsofthepaperarepresentedattheendofthissection,sothatthereaderknowsthemajoranswerstothequestionsjustposed.Papersmoredescriptiveorcomparativeinnaturemaybeginwithanintroductiontoanareawhichintereststheauthors,ortheneedforabroaderdatabase.
Thenextsectionofmostpapersisthe MaterialsandMethods.Insomejournalsthissectionisthelastone.Itspurposeistodescribethematerialsusedintheexperimentsandthemethodsbywhichtheexperimentswerecarriedout.Inprinciple,thisdescriptionshouldbedetailedenoughtoallowotherresearcherstoreplicatethework.Inpractice,thesedescriptionsareoftenhighlycompressed,andtheyoftenreferbacktopreviouspapersbytheauthors.
Thethirdsectionisusually Results.Thissectiondescribestheexperimentsandthereasonstheyweredone.Generally,thelogicoftheResultssectionfollowsdirectlyfromthatoftheIntroduction.Thatis,theIntroductionposesthequestionsaddressedintheearlypartofResults.Beyondthispoint,theorganizationofResultsdiffersfromonepapertoanother.Insomepapers,theresultsarepresentedwithoutextensivediscussion,whichisreservedforthefollowingsection.Thisisappropriatewhenthedataintheearlypartsdonotneedtobeinterpretedextensivelytounderstandwhythelaterexperimentsweredone.Inotherpapers,resultsaregiven,andthentheyareinterpreted,perhapstakentogetherwithotherfindingsnotinthepaper,soastogivethelogicalbasisforlaterexperiments.
Thefourthsectionisthe Discussion.Thissectionservesseveralpurposes.First,thedatainthepaperareinterpreted;thatis,theyareanalyzedtoshowwhattheauthorsbelievethedatashow.Anylimitationstotheinterpretationsshouldbeacknowledged,andfactshouldclearlybeseparatedfromspeculation.Second,thefindingsofthepaperarerelatedtootherfindingsinthefield.Thisservestoshowhowthefindingscontributetoknowledge,orcorrecttheerrorsofpreviouswork.Asstated,someoftheselogicalargumentsareoftenfoundintheResultswhenitisnecessarytoclarifywhylaterexperimentswerecarriedout.AlthoughyoumightarguethatinthiscasethediscussionmaterialshouldbepresentedintheIntroduction,moreoftenyoucannotgraspitssignificanceuntilthefirstpartofResultsisgiven.
Finally,papersusuallyhaveashort Acknowledgements section,inwhichvariouscontributionsofotherworkersarerecognized,followedbya Reference listgivingreferencestopapersandotherworkscitedinthetext.
Papersalsocontainseveral Figures and Tables.Thesecontaindatadescribedinthepaper.Thefiguresandtablesalsohavelegends,whosepurposeistogivedetailsoftheparticularexperimentorexperimentsshownthere.Typically,ifaprocedureisusedonlyonceinapaper,thesedetailsaredescribedinMaterialsandMethods,andtheFigureorTablelegendrefersbacktothatdescription.Ifaprocedureisusedrepeatedly,however,ageneraldescriptionisgiveninMaterialsandMethods,andthedetailsforaparticularexperimentaregivenintheTableorFigurelegend.
Variationsontheorganizationofapaper
Inmostscientificjournals,theaboveformatisfollowed.Occasionally,theResultsandDiscussionarecombined,incasesinwhichthedataneedextensivediscussiontoallowthereadertofollowthetrainoflogicdevelopedinthecourseoftheresearch.Asstated,insomejournals,MaterialsandMethodsfollowstheDiscussion.Incertainolderpapers,theSummarywasgivenattheendofthepaper.
Theformatsfortwowidely-readjournals, Science and Nature,differmarkedlyfromtheaboveoutline.Thesejournalsreachawideaudience,andmanyauthorswishtopublishinthem;accordingly,thespacelimitationsonthepapersaresevere,andtheproseisusuallyhighlycompressed.Inbothjournals,therearenodiscretesections,exceptforashortabstractandareferencelist.InScience,theabstractisself-contained;in Nature,theabstractalsoservesasabriefintroductiontothepaper.Experimentaldetailsareusuallygiveneitherinendnotes(for Science)orFigureandTablelegendsandashortMethodssection(in Nature).Authorsoftentrytocircumventlengthlimitationsbyputtingasmuchmaterialaspossibleintheseplaces.Inaddition,anincreasinglycommonpracticeistoputasubstantialfractionoftheless-importantmaterial,andmuchofthemethodology,intoSupplementalDatathatcanbeaccessedonline.
Manyotherjournalsalsohavelengthlimitations,whichsimilarlyleadtoaneedforconciseness.Forexample,the ProceedingsoftheNationalAcademyofSciences (PNAS)hasasix-pagelimit;Cell severelyeditsmanypaperstoshortenthem,andhasashortwordlimitintheabstract;andsoon.
Inresponsetothepressuretoeditandmakethepaperconcise,manyauthorschoosetocondenseor,moretypically,omitthelogicalconnectionsthatwouldmaketheflowofthepapereasy.Inaddition,muchofthebackgroundthatwouldmakethepaperaccessibletoawideraudienceiscondensedoromitted,sothattheless-informedreaderhastoconsultareviewarticleorpreviouspaperstomakesenseofwhattheissuesareandwhytheyareimportant.Finally,again,authorsoftencircumventpagelimitationsbyputtingcrucialdetailsintotheFigureandTablelegends,especiallywhen(asin PNAS)thesearesetinsmallertype.Fortunately,therecentwidespreadpracticeofputtingless-criticalmaterialintoonlinesupplementalmaterialhaslessenedthepressuretocompresscontentsodrastically,butitisstillaproblemforolderpapers.
Backtooutline
2.Readingascientificpaper
Althoughitistemptingtoreadthepaperstraightthroughasyouwoulddowithmosttext,itismoreefficienttoorganizethewayyouread.Generally,youfirstreadtheAbstractinordertounderstandthemajorpointsofthework.Theextentofbackgroundassumedbydifferentauthors,andallowedbythejournal,alsovariesasjustdiscussed.
OneextremelyusefulhabitinreadingapaperistoreadtheTitleandtheAbstractand,beforegoingon,reviewinyourmindwhatyouknowaboutthetopic.Thisservesseveralpurposes.First,itclarifieswhetheryouinfactknowenoughbackgroundtoappreciatethepaper.Ifnot,youmightchoosetoreadthebackgroundinareviewortextbook,asappropriate.
Second,itrefreshesyourmemoryaboutthetopic.Third,andperhapsmostimportantly,ithelpsyouasthereaderintegratethenewinformationintoyourpreviousknowledgeaboutthetopic.Thatis,itisusedasapartoftheself-educationprocessthatanyprofessionalmustcontinuethroughouthis/hercareer.
Ifyouareveryfamiliarwiththefield,theIntroductioncanbeskimmedorevenskipped.Asstatedabove,thelogicalflowofmostpapersgoesstraightfromtheIntroductiontoResults;accordingly,thepapershouldbereadinthatwayaswell,skippingMaterialsandMethodsandreferringbacktothissectionasneededtoclarifywhatwasactuallydone.AreaderfamiliarwiththefieldwhoisinterestedinaparticularpointgivenintheAbstractoftenskipsdirectlytotherelevantsectionoftheResults,andfromtheretotheDiscussionforinterpretationofthefindings.Thisisonlyeasytodoifthepaperisorganizedproperly.
Codewords
Manypaperscontainshorthandphrasesthatwemightterm'codewords',sincetheyhaveconnotationsthataregenerallynotexplicit.Inmanypapers,notalltheexperimentaldataareshown,butreferredtoby"(datanotshown)".Thisisoftenforreasonsofspace;thepracticeisacceptedwhentheauthorshavedocumentedtheircompetencetodotheexperimentsproperly(usuallyinpreviouspapers).Twoothercodewordsare"unpublisheddata"and"preliminarydata".Theformercan
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