MK: English (2 credit points) , Lecture: 2

Reading a scientific
paper
Dr. rer. nat. Ni Putu Ariantari

Depatment of Pharmacy, Faculty of Mathematics

and Natural Sciences, Udayana University
21.09.2020
www.hhu.de
 Learning outcome of the current topic

▪ To be able to get ideas (content) after reading a scientific

article (a scientific paper)
▪ What type of paper is this?
▪ What is the topic/general idea of the paper?
▪ What do the authors want to know?
▪ What did the authors do?
▪ What do the results show?
▪ How did the authors interpret the results?
▪ What should be done next?

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 References (addition to textbook)

1. Carey, M.A., Steiner, K.L., Petri Jr., W.A. 2020. Ten Simple Rules for
Reading A Scientific Paper, Plos Computational Biology, 16(7), 1-6
2. How to read a paper efficiently,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeaD0ZaUJ3Y

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 Two types of scientific papers

1. Review article: a scientific text on a topic relying on

previously published literature or data.

2. Primary research article: a scientific text that

reports the details and results of a research study
conducted by the author (s)

How to distinguish them??

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 The structure of a primary research paper

1. Title, authors and affiliation

2. Abstract (summary)
3. Introduction
4. Materials and Methods
5. Results
6. Discussion
7. Conclusion
8. Acknowledgements
9. References
10.Figures/Tables
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 Title, authors and affiliation

▪ Title is very descriptive and informative! Often states

the main finding.
▪ Authors: people who made scientific contributions to
the paper. Order of authors is important! Why?

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 Example

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 Abstract/Summary

▪ Brief background of the subject

▪ Propose of the study
▪ Main finding of the study
▪ The impact of these finding on the research field

▪ When you do literature search in Pubmed for example, you will see
this part first. After you read the abstract and find it interesting to read
further, then you will go to get the fulltext of the paper.

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 Abstract/Summary

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 Abstract/Summary

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 Introduction

▪ The background information to help us understand

why the research / the study is important.
▪ The aim of the study, the research questions

How to approach introduction??

▪ Take notes
▪ Read it (try to get the main idea of each
paragraph)
▪ Define vocabulary
(quickest way --→ go to wikipedia
whenever you find problems)

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 Materials and Methods

▪ Describe all materials used for the study, as well as

how the experiment was carried out (often
compressed and you may need to look up another
paper cited for more detail)

Should you read the materials and methods??

▪ You can skim over them before you read the results
▪ Sometime you need to go back to „Materials and
Methods“ when you read the result, to clarify how the
experiment was done!

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 Results

▪ Describe the outcome of the experiments that were

carried out to answer the research questions. What
was found?

▪ Readers will find figures and tables in this section,

enabling readers to see the results of experiments
by themselves.

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 Results

How to read the results??

▪ Read the text
▪ Take notes
▪ Examine the figure or the table, as it is referred in the
text.

What do we expect after reading the results??

▪ The basic procedure

▪ The results themshelves
▪ The answer of the research questions / The conclusion

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 Discussion

▪ Describe interpretation of results of the study. What do

the results mean?
▪ Contribution to knowledge in the field of study,
correcting errors, etc.

How to read discussion??

▪ Are the conclusions drawn by the authors supported by

the data shown in the results section?
▪ Does the finding contribute to current knowledge?

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 How should we read a scientific paper?

TITLE ABSTRACT

MATERIALS
AND METHODS INTRODUCTION

RESULTS DISCUSSION

Not necessarily in order!

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 Step 1 : Skim the entire paper (The 1st pass)

▪ What is the topic/general idea of the paper?

▪ Do the authors follow „the structure“ as mentioned
above?
▪ How many figures are there? What kind of figures
are they?
▪ What is the conclusion of the paper?

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 Step 2 : Vocabulary (The 2nd pass)

▪ Go through the paper as a whole

▪ Underline words or phrases, those you do not
understand ---→ go to online dictionaries, wikipedia,
etc.
▪ Note important phrases!

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 Step 3 : Reading for comprehension (The
3rd pass)

▪ Reading carefully section by section

▪ Dig into more detail to:
▪ Introduction
▪ Materials, Methods, Results
▪ Discussion
▪ Conclusion

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 Summary

▪ What type of paper is this?

▪ What is the topic/general idea of the paper?
▪ What do the authors want to know? --→ (motivation,
background), Introduction
▪ What did the authors do? --→ (methods)
▪ What do the results show?
▪ How did the authors interpret the results?
▪ What should be done next? = outlook

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 Individual task 1.

▪ Due date: 25. 09. 2020

▪ Email: putu_ariantari@unud.ac.id, subject: English Task 1_student
number_name
▪ Task: Please find one scientific article in the field of Pharmacy. After
reading the paper, please write with your own words a summary
containing the following information:
▪ What type of paper is this?
▪ What is the topic/general idea of the paper?
▪ What do the authors want to know?
▪ What did the authors do?
▪ What do the results show?
▪ How did the authors interpret the results?
▪ What should be done next?

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 Next lecture……

▪ Some of you will present your work!

▪ We will discuss more on reading a paper based on
your own experience on individual task 1.

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