How to Read an

Academic Research
Papers

Composed by
Dr. Mostafa Gawdat Saleh
 INTRODUCTION

• Reading 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 it step by step, even an
impossible-looking paper can be understood.
For steps to read a research or an
artical
• Skimming.
• Vocabulary. 
• Comprehension
• Analysis.
 Skimming
• Skim the paper quickly, noting basics like
headings, figures and the like.  This takes
just a few minutes.  You're not trying to
understand it yet, you just need to get an
overview of what's ahead.
deciding what the paper is about
• What you should NOT read:
• 1. The study does not address an important scientific
issue.
• 2. The study did not actually test the authors‘
hypothesis.
• 3. The type of study is not suitable testing the
hypothesis.
• 4. The sample size was too small.
• 5. The study was uncontrolled or inadequately
controlled.
• 6. The statistical analysis was incorrect or
inappropriate.
• 7. The authors drew unjustified conclusions from
their data.
• 8. There is a significant conflict of interest
 Vocabulary
• Go through the paper word by word and line by line,
underlining or highlighting every word and phrase you
don't understand.  Don't worry if there are a lot of
words you don't know.
a)      Look up simple words and phrases. 
b)    Get an understanding from the context in which the
words or phrase is used. 
c)     Flag the phrase as belonging to one of the major
concepts of the paper
 Comprehension
• Introduction
• Methods
• Results
• Discussion
 Comprehension
Introduction
• What larger question is this study a part
of?
• What does the author say about previous
research?
• What is the hypothesis of the paper and
how will it be tested?
 Comprehension
Method
• What was done at each step ?
• What was actually measured and how was
it measured?
• Make an outline and/or sketch of the
procedures and instruments.
• Keep notes of your questions.
 Comprehension
Method II
• Why was the study done, and what clinical
question were the authors addressing?
• What type of study was done?
• Was this design appropriate to the research?
• Have the authors determined whether their
groups are comparable, and, if necessary,
adjusted for baseline differences?
• What sort of data have the authors got, and
have they used appropriate statistical tests?
 Comprehension
Results
• 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.
 Comprehension
Discussion
• 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.
• Do you agree with the conclusions drawn from the
data? 
• Are these conclusions over-generalized or appropriately
careful? 
• Are there alternative interpretations of the data? 
• What further experiments can you think of, to continue
the research or to answer remaining questions?
 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?"
 Tips on reading research papers
• You need not read a research paper sequentially
from beginning to end. Here’s one possible sequence:
– Read the title. (What is the paper about?)
– Read the abstract. (Should give you a concise
overview of the paper.)
– Read the introduction. (Look for motivations, relation
to other work, and a more detailed overview.)
– Look at the structure of the paper. (What do the
remaining sections address? How do they fit
together?)
– (Read the previous/related work section. (How does
this work relate? What is new or different about this
work?))
– Read the conclusions. (What were their results?)
Break