Here is a good example. Step-by-step.
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I am the Online Community Manager at PLoS-ONE (Public Library of Science). My job is to try to motivate you to comment on the papers there. My scientific specialty is chronobiology (circadian rhythms and photoperiodism), with additional interests in comparative physiology, animal behavior and evolution. You can contact me at: Coturnix@gmail.com
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How to read a scientific paper
Category: Academia • Open Science
Posted on: July 18, 2008 11:02 AM, by Coturnix
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Education & Careers
Comments
Thanks for linking. I'm glad you like the post.
Posted by: Bill K. | July 18, 2008 7:53 PM
The advice started out reasonable: first read the abstract, and then the figures and figure legends. It then veers sharply downhill. What about the fucking Results!? You know, where the authors tell you what they did and what they observed! If you go right to the "Conclusions", "Discussion", and "Introduction" sections without reading the Results, you are setting yourself up to buy into the marketing hype.
Posted by: PhysioProf | July 19, 2008 1:50 PM
Lay-people read (and should read) the scientific papers differently. It is OK for laymen to skip over the hard parts. I start with Refernces, then dig through the Materials and Methods, then figures/results in parallel. I will read the rest only if it is really important for me. But I see why lay audience should do quite the opposite - their goals are different.
Posted by: Coturnix | July 21, 2008 12:37 AM