How to read a journal article

Sep 25, 2022 · 1 min read  ·
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Structure

  • Title - 1 sentence summary of the article. Divide it into keywords / parts
  • Abstract - Abreviated version of the article. Subdivide in the same way.
    • Introduction / Background
    • Methods
    • Results
    • Conclusions
  • Introduction
    • What is known
    • What isn't known
    • What is the hypothesis (usually the last paragraph / sentence)
  • Methods
    • usually intended for peer reviewers
    • not important unless you want to reproduce or punch holes in argument
  • Results
    • presents the data from methods w/o interpretation
    • Look at subheadings
  • Conclusion
    • summary of significant findings
    • implications of findings
  • Keywords

Strategy

  1. Understand the title
  2. Read the Abstract determine relevance/use
  3. Read the findings/conclusions

Finding the Right Paper

  • Connected Papers
  • ResearchRabbit
  • Litmaps