HOW TO READ A SCIENTIFIC
PAPER
Rebecca Strada
WHAT IS A SCIENTIFIC PAPER?
❑Scientific papers (also known as ‘journal articles’) are a particular type of written work
with a few characteristics:
- published in a periodical called a journal, whose purpose is to publish this kind of work
- peer-reviewed
- citable
- include citations
❑Scientific papers are for sharing your own research work or reviewing the research
conducted by others
❑Scientific papers have two audiences: the referees and the journal readers
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TYPES OF SCIENTIFIC PAPERS
REVIEW «RESEARCH» PAPER
❑Based on original research
❑Experiments/analysis
❑Data interpretation
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THE STRUCTURE OF A SCIENTIFIC
PAPER
The general outline is the following:
❑Title
❑Author(s)
❑Abstract
❑Introduction
❑Materials & Methods
❑Results
❑Discussion
❑References/Literature Cited
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3
TITLE
❑Title
❑Authors and affiliations
❑Corresponding author(s) + contact information
❑Keywords
ABSTRACT
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❑ highlight key points from major sections of the paper
❑ explain what is included in the paper
❑ Typical length is 200-250 words
INTRODUCTION
❑ Describe the nature of the problem
❑ Distillation of the relevant literature
❑ Development of the rationale of the study
What can you find in this section?
❑First paragraph: what is known about the topic?What is
the current/latest knowledge?
❑Second paragraph: what are the problems/gaps in existing
knowledge/unanswered questions? What are the
limitations of the existing solutions?
❑Third paragraph:What questions are you trying to answer?
What problems are you trying to solve?
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MATERIALS &
METHODS
❑ describes how the experiments have been conducted
- instruments information
- instrument set up
- method/procedure used for a particular experiment
- additional data
❑ allow the reader to repeat the experiments
❑allow the reader to evaluate the results
❑the method can be new (described in full) or established
(a reference will be found here to some older paper)
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RESULT &
DISCUSSION
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❑ usually combined because results make little sense to
most readers without the discussion
❑ usually contains tables, graphs, and figures
❑ describe and interpret what has been observed
❑ relate to previous observations
CONCLUSIONS
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REFERENCES
SUPPORTING INFORMATION
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PAPERS
The general outline is the following:
❑DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsx.2017.12.016
❑DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/jpm13020320
❑DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.talanta.2012.05.069
11• rebecca.strada@recetox.muni.cz