Abstract

The abstract is a brief overview of what the paper is about. It may explain why the authors did the experiment, how they did it, and what they found out.

Introduction

The introduction provides background for the the motivation for doing the experiment. It also explains prior research.

Methods

This methods section details how the experiment was set up and performed. The methods section should be detailed so well that you could replicate the experiment on your own.

Results

The results section presents the data the authors gathered and used to reach their conclusions. The results section will often include figures that make the data more compact and tables that organize the data.

It is important that you understand the figures and tables in order to understand a paper.

Discussion

The discussion (or analysis or conclusion) section is where the author connects the dots and explains what the data means and why they support the conclusion.

References

The reference list or bibliography is a list of resources quoted or referenced by the authors within the paper. This list allows you to go back to those sources to see why the authors referenced that work, and whether the sources are reliable.

This information was adapted from How to Read a Scientific Paper by Michael Fosmire is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Reading a scientific article is not like reading a book. You don't have to read every word, and you don't have to read in order from the first page to the last page.

There are several ways one may approach reading a scientific article. Here is one suggested reading order:

1. Abstract

   1. Read this first to decide whether or not to read the whole paper
   2. Ask yourself: "Are these findings relevant to the question I have?"

2. Discussion

   1. Skim this section to get a better understanding of whether or not the paper will be relevant for your specific research question
   2. If you find the article to be irrelevant, abandon the article.
   3. If you find the article to be relevant, move onto the introduction.

3. Introduction

   1. Read the introduction to thoroughly understand why this experiment was done.

4. Discussion

   1. Read this section again to understand the author's analysis of the data. 

5. Methods

   1. Skim this section and try to identify the methods you recognize.
   2. At the undergraduate level, skimming and a basic understanding is enough.
   3. At the graduate level, a more thorough reading and understanding of this section may be necessary.

6. Results

   1. Skim this section and try to understand the figures and tables.
   2. These results will be referenced in the discussion/conclusion, so it is important to understand what they mean.

This information was adapted from How to Read a Scientific Paper by Michael Fosmire is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.