How
to Read a Scientific Paper
Original text by John W.
Little and Roy Parker--
The main purpose of a scientific paper is to
report new results, usually experimental, and to relate these results to previous
knowledge in the field. Papers are one of the most important ways that
scientists communicate with one another.
Organization of a paper
In most scientific journals, scientific papers
follow a standard format. They are divided into several sections, and each
section serves a specific purpose in the paper. We first describe the standard
format, then some variations on that format.
1 Summary or Abstract
A paper begins with a short Summary or Abstract. Generally, it gives a brief background to the
topic; describes concisely the major findings of the paper; and relates these
findings to the field of study. As will be seen, this logical order is also
that of the paper as a whole.
2 Introduction
The next section of the paper is the Introduction. In many journals this section is not given a
title. As its name implies, this section presents the background knowledge
necessary for the reader to understand why the findings of the paper are an
advance on the knowledge in the field. Typically, the Introduction describes
first the accepted state of knowledge in a specialized field; then it focuses
more specifically on a particular aspect, usually describing a finding or set
of findings that led directly to the work described in the paper. If the
authors are testing a hypothesis, the source of that hypothesis is spelled out,
findings are given with which it is consistent, and one or more predictions are
given. In many papers, one or several major conclusions of the paper are
presented at the end of this section, so that the reader knows the major
answers to the questions just posed. Papers more descriptive or comparative in
nature may begin with an introduction to an area which interests the authors,
or the need for a broader database.
3 Materials and Methods
The next section of most papers is the Materials and Methods. In some journals
this section is the last one. Its purpose is to describe the materials used in
the experiments and the methods by which the experiments were carried out. In
principle, this description should be detailed enough to allow other
researchers to replicate the work. In practice, these descriptions are often
highly compressed, and they often refer back to previous papers by the authors.
4 Results
The third section is usually Results. This section describes the experiments and the reasons
they were done. Generally, the logic of the Results section follows directly
from that of the Introduction. That is, the Introduction poses the questions
addressed in the early part of Results. Beyond this point, the organization of
Results differs from one paper to another. In some papers, the results are
presented without extensive discussion, which is reserved for the following
section. This is appropriate when the data in the early parts do not need to be
interpreted extensively to understand why the later experiments were done. In
other papers, results are given, and then they are interpreted, perhaps taken
together with other findings not in the paper, so as to give the logical basis
for later experiments.
5 Discussion
The fourth section is the Discussion. This section serves several purposes. First, the data
in the paper are interpreted; that is, they are analyzed to show what the
authors believe the data show. Any limitations to the interpretations should be
acknowledged, and fact should clearly be separated from speculation. Second,
the findings of the paper are related to other findings in the field. This
serves to show how the findings contribute to knowledge, or correct the errors
of previous work. As stated, some of these logical arguments are often found in
the Results when it is necessary to clarify why later experiments were carried
out. Although you might argue that in this case the discussion material should
be presented in the Introduction, more often you cannot grasp its significance
until the first part of Results is given.
6 Acknowledgements & 7 Reference
Finally, papers usually have a short Acknowledgements section, in which
various contributions of other workers are recognized, followed by a Reference list giving references to
papers and other works cited in the text.
Figures and Tables
Papers also contain several Figures and Tables. These contain data described in the paper. The
figures and tables also have legends, whose purpose is to give details of the
particular experiment or experiments shown there. Typically, if a procedure is
used only once in a paper, these details are described in Materials and
Methods, and the Figure or Table legend refers back to that description. If a
procedure is used repeatedly, however, a general description is given in
Materials and Methods, and the details for a particular experiment are given in
the Table or Figure legend.
Variations on the
organization of a paper
In most scientific journals, the above format is
followed. Occasionally, the Results and
Discussion are combined, in cases in which the data need extensive
discussion to allow the reader to follow the train of logic developed in the
course of the research. As stated, in some journals, Materials and Methods follows the Discussion. In certain older papers, the Summary
was given at the end of the paper.
The formats for two widely-read journals, Science and Nature, differ markedly from the above outline. These journals reach
a wide audience, and many authors wish to publish in them; accordingly, the
space limitations on the papers are severe, and the prose is usually highly
compressed. In both journals, there are no discrete sections, except for a
short abstract and a reference list. In Science, the abstract is
self-contained; in Nature, the abstract also serves as a brief introduction to
the paper. Experimental details are usually given either in endnotes (for Science) or Figure and Table legends and
a short Methods section (in Nature).
Authors often try to circumvent length limitations by putting as much material
as possible in these places. In addition, an increasingly common practice is to
put a substantial fraction of the less-important material, and much of the
methodology, into Supplemental Data that can be accessed online.
Many other journals also have length limitations,
which similarly lead to a need for conciseness. For example, the Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences (PNAS) has a six-page limit; Cell
severely edits many papers to shorten them, and has a short word limit in the
abstract; and so on.
In response to the pressure to edit and make the
paper concise, many authors choose to condense or, more typically, omit the
logical connections that would make the flow of the paper easy. In addition,
much of the background that would make the paper accessible to a wider audience
is condensed or omitted, so that the less-informed reader has to consult a
review article or previous papers to make sense of what the issues are and why
they are important. Finally, again, authors often circumvent page limitations
by putting crucial details into the Figure and Table legends, especially when
(as in PNAS) these are set in smaller
type.
Reading a
Scientific Paper Questions by alex
Try to
answer the following questions about the way to read a scientific paper.
Task
1: Basic Structure
1 What
is the main purpose of a scientific paper?
2 Scientific papers usually follow a __________ format?
What
do you think is the missing word?
3 So
what does the sentence in question 1 mean?
4 Put
the following sections in the order that they appear in a scientific paper.
a) Results, b) Materials and Methods, c) Acknowledgements, d) Introduction, e) Abstract, f) Discussion, g) References
i) _____ ii) _____ iii) _____ iv) _____ v)
_____ vi) _____ vii) _____
Compare
your answers with your group members.
Task
2: Expression
Now,
in your own words describe the function of each section.
Task
3: Details of the sections of a scientific paper?
1 In
what way do the Abstract and the Introduction differ?
2 What
two purposes of the Discussion section?
3 Who
might be mentioned in the Acknowledgements?
4 If
the author of a paper is testing a hypothesis, what does he/she do? Where does
he/she do this?
5 What
is a ‘legend’? Can you think of a synonym for legend?
6
There are two types of legend. How are they different?
7 Why
are Results and Discussion sometimes combined?
8
Where might we see a Summary?
9
Where are questions posed in the Introduction usually answered?
Compare
your answers with your group members.
Task
4: Other formats
1 In
what way do articles in the journals Nature and Science differ from normal scientific papers? Why is this?
2 How
many sections are there in a Nature or Science article?
Compare
your answers with your group members.