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In order to learn about new discoveries in your field, or extend your knowledge on a topic, you must read the work of other scientists. The scientific community maintains numerous journals containing millions of reports detailing the research conducted by scientists around the world. You, as a young scientist, must be able to locate and comprehend what these scientists are talking about. Therefore, use this site to learn more about the science articles you will come across, and how to read each article to understand the main findings.
Course Objectives
Course Objectives
Section 1 - What is a scientific article and why do I care?
Section 1 - What is a scientific article and why do I care?
The following excerpt explaining the importance of scientific papers and the types of articles is from the Science Buddies website. Click on the link to read more.
Why bother reading scientific papers?
Why bother reading scientific papers?
Scientific papers are the heart of the science community; they're one of the major ways scientists communicate their results and ideas to one another. If you're considering doing original scientific research, reading the scientific literature is a must! Read the round table discussion about Finding an Idea for an Advanced Science Fair Project by students who successfully competed at the top-level science competitions, and you'll quickly see that scientific papers were vital to those students when it came to both choosing their topics and carrying out their experiments.
Scientific papers contain the most up-to-date information about a field. So if you have a topic you're interested in studying, reading the scientific literature in that field will help you understand what has already been discovered and what questions remain unanswered. The great thing about science is that every time one question is answered, the answer unlocks twice as many new questions. This means that once you've read the literature and know what people have already discovered, you'll probably be able to see what still needs to be done in the field and use that to design your own relevant research project.
Scientific papers also contain information about how experiments were conducted, including how long they took, the equipment and materials necessary, and details about how to physically perform the experiments. This kind of information is critical for figuring out how to do your own experiments, and even whether the project will be physically possible given your equipment constraints.
Section 2 - What are the parts of a science article?
Section 2 - What are the parts of a science article?
Parts of a Scientific article.mp4Section 3 - What can I do to read a scientific article like a pro?
Section 3 - What can I do to read a scientific article like a pro?
Starting to read a scientific article may be a daunting task. Unfortunately, there is NO ONE EFFECTIVE way to read such a paper. Different individuals, in different fields of science, will have their own ways of reading and understanding the information in the paper. Thus, it is up to YOU to find the best method that works for you.
Regardless of the method you choose as you become pros at reading these articles, begin with the steps outlined below. As you get used to the process you may not have to carry out some of these steps.
The two videos below, describe two different methods that can be used to read scientific articles. Go through both videos. Try each method at least once to gauge which method works best for you.
Video 1 - How to read an academic paper. Video 2 - How I read most a paper!
Module Assessment
Module Assessment
Now that you have learned about scientific articles, and have been introduced to the different methods of reading them, it is time to apply these skills and knowledge! For the module assessment you will;
(1) use the two approaches outlined in the videos above to read two scientific articles chosen for you,
(2) discuss what worked and did not work for you for each of the approaches with your peers,
(3) choose an article of your own and provide a summary of the article to your peers,
(4) explain the approach you used to read the article with your peers.
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