Techniques for Reading Scientific Articles Effectively

Have you ever found an academic publication that seems super relevant to the subject you are trying to study, but when you open the article to start reading, you become immediately overwhelmed and confused by the complex content and jargon? Welcome to the club!

Scientific and academic articles can be incredibly confusing and intimidating. The title of the article may seem relevant to the subject you are investigating, but when you start getting into the meat of the paper, you may find the content to be confusing and hard to understand. This is very normal! It is because many academic articles are written by experts for other experts. So unless you are also an expert in the subject the article is about, you have a lot to learn and catch up on to know what these experts are talking about.

Your Guide to Becoming an Expert Academic Article Reader

Reading these complicated articles may seem like an impossible undertaking when you have a research report due tomorrow, so this guide will provide you with some quick tips and tricks you can employ to get the most out of reading academic articles without wasting too much of your time.

• Step 1: Preview the article before you get too far in
  • Use the title and abstract: Begin by reading the title and abstract to grasp the study’s main focus or research question, goals, and key findings. This provides an initial overview and helps in determining the article’s relevance to your needs.
  • Look for targeted keywords and phrases: Identify important keywords and phrases within the abstract. These terms often represent the core concepts of the research and can guide your understanding as you delve deeper into the article.
• Step 2: You don’t have to read every section – employ skimming and scanning
  • Use the headings and subheadings: Skim through the headings and subheadings to get a sense of the article’s structure. This helps in creating a mental map of the information and understanding the flow of the author’s argument.
  • Get the gist with figures and tables: Examine figures, tables, and graphs before reading the full text. These visual aids often convey essential information more efficiently than the text itself and can enhance your understanding of key findings.
• Step 3: Enhance understanding using selective reading
  • Read strategically: Focus first on the introduction to understand the research question and goals. Then focus on the results and conclusion sections to see what the researchers found. You may want to start by focusing on subheadings in these sections that seem most relevant to your research needs. If you need to understand how the study was conducted, skim through the methods section. This structured approach allows you to grasp the study’s context, research design, findings, and implications.
  • Annotate and highlight: Use annotation tools or traditional highlighting to mark key points, definitions, and important findings. This helps in creating a summary for future reference and reinforces your understanding.
  • Keep a running list of important points: For each report you write, you may keep a running list or document of sources and the most important information you pulled from each. On this list, it will also make your research process more efficient to include the full APA citation for each source.
• Step 4: Seek clarification when you get confused
  • Define unfamiliar terms and phrases: Look up and understand any unfamiliar terms or concepts. Many scientific articles assume a certain level of background knowledge, and clarifying terminology is essential for comprehension.
  • Look at the citations listed in your sources: Explore the references cited in the article to access additional resources for a more comprehensive understanding of the topic. This also helps in evaluating the reliability of the research.
• Step 5: Pause to reflect and summarize what you’ve learned
  • Reflect on key takeaways: Take breaks during your reading to reflect on the key concepts presented. This aids in internalizing the information and connecting it to your existing knowledge base.
  • Summarize it in your own words: After reading, challenge yourself to summarize the article in your own words. This process reinforces understanding and enhances retention.

Mastering the art of reading scientific articles takes time and practice. It requires a combination of strategic approaches, active engagement, and a willingness to delve into complex subject matter. It may be slow going at first, but with the more academic articles you read, each of these steps will become a part of your natural reading process and you’ll be reading them like an expert in no time!

This resource was created with assistance from ChatGPT.
OpenAI. (2024). ChatGPT 3.5. https://chat.openai.com/share/8128933c-1912-4d1f-9acb-f0226bb37122