Topics include: principles of good writing, tricks for writing faster and with less anxiety, the format of a scientific manuscript, and issues in publication and peer review. Duke University This step may be optional for you, depending on why you’re reading a particular paper. [3] Dixon B. What are the common features of good science writing? For example, BMI means brain-machine interface to neuroscientists, but to non-scientists, it means body mass index. Questions and answers form an important routine in the way children acquire language. 280 pp. Has the study been conducted on 10, or 10,000 people? FINAL STEP: (Don’t neglect doing this) What do other researchers say about this paper? What are the limitations of that work? 20, 2005 , 8:00 AM. But do it last, so you are better prepared to think critically about what other people say. I’ve written a shorter version of this guide for teachers to hand out to their classes. For further comments and additional questions on this guide, please see the Comments Section on the original post. Begin by reading the introduction, not the abstract. She is keenly interested in public outreach and scientific literacy, writing about topics in science and pseudoscience for her blog (violentmetaphors.com), the Huffington Post, and for the Social Evolution Forum. Tip: google “Discovery Institute” to see why you don’t want to use it as a scientific authority on evolutionary theory. 2002— I want to help people become more scientifically literate, so I wrote this guide for how a layperson can approach reading and understanding a scientific research paper. v–vi. However, to get non-scientists interested, scientists must make an effort to explain why their research is important, how it can prove useful, and where it fits in the larger picture. You might have tried to read scientific papers before and been frustrated by the dense, stilted writing and the unfamiliar jargon. Give your writing to a friend or family member who doesn’t have a science background and see whether they find it interesting and if they get lost or uninterested at any point. For example, when a community doesn’t vaccinate children because they’re afraid of “toxins” and think that prayer (or diet, exercise, and “clean living”) is enough to prevent infection, outbreaks happen. The order will depend on which journal it’s published in. But when I’ve got a collection of papers assembled for deep reading, I always read the abstract last. [5] Greenfield S A. I remember feeling this way! Here is Susan Greenfield in The Human Brain: a  guided tour5: ‘Why should the sodium channel suddenly open in the first place? And to do that, you have to read the “primary research literature” (often just called “the literature”). Explain why you are doing your research and the impact it could have in the future. Like the walls of a house, it separates the cell’s internal and external environments. Find out about Scientifica's latest product releases, company news, and developments through a range of news articles, customer interviews and product demonstration videos. 2006. http://royalsociety.org/awards/science-books/>, http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/news/86AM/MacDonaldAward.pdf>, See more I know it’s a total pain. Not only do you read the sections in a different order than they’re presented, but you also have to take notes, read it multiple times, and probably go look up other papers for some of the details. Offered by Stanford University. Reading and understanding research papers is a skill which every single doctor and scientist has had to learn during graduate school. [8] Blum D, Knudson M, and Henig R M (eds). the winning entry (by Paul Hasse, a science writer) used an analogy. What do they propose to do as a next step? When they fully understand what you are researching and why, people are more likely to be interested and remember what you do. ... Give your article or speech to a non-scientist to read. But journal articles, a primary way science is communicated in academia, are a different format to newspaper articles or blogs and require a level of skill and undoubtedly a greater amount of patience. 2006. The Human Brain: a guided tour, p. 50. A good structure to use is an inverted pyramid, starting with the conclusion (the most important message) and finishing with the background information that would normally be in the introduction of a piece of scientific writing. This fluid is slightly viscid, but cannot be drawn out into threads. It’s a peer-reviewed report of new research on a specific question (or questions). Reading a scientific paper is a completely different process than reading an article about science in a blog or newspaper. Whether presenting your research or writing about it, here are some tips to help you interest and engage your audience. I STRONGLY advise you to become familiar with them. 1. Be unbiased and apolitical - you want to engage the audience regardless of their political views or religious beliefs. Now, go back to the beginning and read the abstract. I do this because abstracts contain a succinct summary of the entire paper, and I’m concerned about inadvertently becoming biased by the authors’ interpretation of the results. Featured image credit: Scientists in a laboratory of the University of La Rioja by Urcomunicacion (Wikimedia CC BY3.0). 1. © 2015 Scientifica, A Judges Scientific plc company. //--> This allows me to better identify the important papers in a particular field, see if the authors cited my own papers (KIDDING!….mostly), and find sources of useful ideas or techniques.). Full disclosure: Editage Insights is a product of Editage, a global provider of world-class scientific communication solutions. Which journal is easy to get an acceptance? This is much less detail than you’d probably need, because it’s a paper in my specialty and I use these methods all the time. In fact, that’s often the only part of a paper that many non-scientists read when they’re trying to build a scientific argument. And here is Darwin on Ficus repens7: 'Ficus repens climbs up a wall just like ivy; and when the young rootlets are made to press lightly on slips of glass, they emit after about a week’s interval, as I observed several times, minute drops of clear fluid, not in the least milky like that exude from a wound. Here Jennifer Raff has prepared a helpful guide for non-scientists on how to read a scientific paper. 2013: “The first peopling of South America: New evidence from Y-chromosome haplogroup Q”). This could not only play down your research but could mean that your research is misinterpreted. 5. In other words, they need to be good science writers. [1] Currently known as the Royal Society Winton Prize, the award is meant for authors of science books written for a non-specialist audience . [2] Dawkins R (ed.). This helps you focus on why this research is being done. But to form a truly educated opinion on a scientific subject, you need to become familiar with current research in that field. Not “What is this paper about”, but “What problem is this entire field trying to solve?”. The five sentences part is a little arbitrary, but it forces you to be concise and really think about the context of this research. The cell membrane contains proteins which act as gates, determining what molecules can and can’t enter the cell.”. I mean literally draw it. Sometimes, authors need to be prompted to come up with appropriate analogies, which serve to link the new to the old or the unknown to the known. Notice how she deploys an analogy as well. 1989. //--> Topics include: principles of good writing, tricks for writing faster and with less anxiety, the format of a scientific manuscript, peer review, grant writing, ethical issues in scientific publication, and writing for general audiences. Keep this as succinct as possible. <. Also take note of the journal in which it’s published. Paint pictures with words. If you described a neuroscience term such as an ‘action potential spike’ to non-scientists, it is unlikely they would know what you mean. ‘What are tuber crops?’ asked a chemical engineer. Cactus Communications. When working with scientists who are writing for non-scientists, the editor needs to keep reminding the scientists that they are not writing a research paper for their peers but an article for a much broader audience; that they are writing not for prestige or priority but for people; that they are writing not so much to prove the validity of their reseach as to explain it. Take a step toward advancing your career by learning more about getting funded, disseminating your research widely, and developing essential skills that will open new opportunities for you to succeed. Pay careful attention to them! So much research has been done in the intervening years that the field has changed considerably). Confirm that you would also like to sign up for free personalized email coaching for this stage. A private safe space for researchers around the world to be themselves, learn from and motivate each other, and have some fun! 290 pp. It’s appropriate for someone who has no background whatsoever in science or medicine, and based on the assumption that he or she is doing this for the purpose of getting a basic understanding of a paper and deciding whether or not it’s a reputable study. In other words, … All these sources used a few common tactics to explain science, a few of which are discussed below (and have featured earlier). UPDATE: If you would like to see an example of how to read a science paper using this framework, you can find one here. 11 min read, New avenues for science outreach: Takeaways from ScienceComm'18 India conference (Part 1) You're looking to give wings to your academic career and publication journey. 'Light air, wind speed 1–6 km/h' and 'Light breeze, wind speed 7–12 km/h' are precise enough as categories in the Beaufort scale of wind force, but the corresponding descriptions, namely 'direction of wind shown by smoke drift, but not by wind vanes' and 'wind felt on face; leaves rustle' are so vivid that they launched a copy editor on a quest to find out more about Beaufort6. Field has changed considerably ) learn during graduate school but you won ’ t thought of, or people! ) may appear to be interested and remember what you do this Movements and of! Current research in that field all up ( yes, every one review our comments Policy if you don t. 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