Paper Reading and Writing

Paper Reading

WHY?

HOW?

Does your professor just want to ruin your life?

Or is there a good reason to read the literature?

Why read?

It is current!

--Textbook can be years out of date by the time they are publ

ished. Journals tell you what is happening right now!

It can be replicated!

--Popular articles and books give you general information. Sch

olarl journals give you detailed information that you could d

o the experiment yourself.

--You can verify the research results by doing it yourself.

It has actual data!

--If you need to know exact results or properties for your ow

n research, articles include actual data, uncertainties, cond

itions of the experiment, and much more.

You can evaluate the conclusions

--Do you believe it… or not?

--Articles provide the author’s explanation of their results a

nd conclusions. You can see their assumptions and determi

ne whether you believe them or not.

Why read?

So, there you have it…

Current—It is most up to date stuff

Replicable—you can redo the experiment yourself

Has raw data—Save time, use their results

Show logic—Do you believe it…or not

All the reasons to read scientific papers

How?

How to make scientific papers reading as painless as possib

le?

First thing first

Don’t read strainght through

Before you read, you need the right equipment…

A scientific dictionary

--look up terms you don’t know

--try an online dictionary

Handy notebook:

--make notes so you’ll remember your insights

Your friends and colleagues:

--explaining to others will help you understand the paper you

rself

All packed?

Then, let’s go!

Ok, Let’s start our trip to understanding s

cientific papers!

• In this section, we will read the sections of a paper in the or

der that makes for faster, more efficient comprehension th

an reading the paper straight through.

First stop! The Abstract:

Tells you briefly what experiment was done and what was f

ound.

Question:

What specific results are mentioned?

Are the relevant?

Discussion:

Summarizes important results

Give reasons for conclusions based on results

Question:

Do you agree with the logic of the conclusion?

Are these results useful to you?

Introduction

Explains motivation and importance of resarch

Provides background information

Question:

Do you understand background information?

Do you need to look up reference for more information?

Results:

Provides the raw data you might need for your own resear

ch. Figures and tables provide the data in a compact forma

t for easy viewing

Question:

For figures and tables, do you understand what they mean?

What units are used?

Does the curve make sense?

Congratulations!

You’ve reached an understanding of the paper.

You can see whether the paper is relevant to your work,

and know where the data and conclusions are hidden.

Anatomy Are all apples red?

Abstract: We examined several apple

s’ color. Although most are red, some

are not.

Introduction: An age-old question is: a

re all apples red? Maclntosh (1993) th

ought so. G. Smith (1999) begs to diffe

r. We hope to resolve this issue once a

nd for all.

Methods: We went to the local grocery

store and bought one of every appley t

hey had. We took them home and look

ed at them.

Results: We found four red apples, on

e green apple, and two yellow apples.

Discussion: Since we found one yellow

apple and two green apples, it must be

true that all apples are not red. We co

ncur with G.Smith’s fingding.

References:

Maclntosh. Journal of fruit science. 1993,

4(3):121-135

Simith G. Apple technology tody. 1999,7

(3):4-8

Title information

Are all apples red?

Authors

Title: gives you a brief synopsis of what the paper is about.

Author: who wrote the paper? from an institution you trus

t?

Institution: who the author works for. It can help determin

e the qualifications the author.

Contact information: usually included, so one can provide

feedback or correspond with the author.

The abstract

Gives you a brief overview of what the paper is all about.

Explains why the authors did the experiment, how they did it, and what

they found out.

Ask yourself, are these findings relevant to the questions you have?

It is very important to read abstracts to help you decide whether to read

the whole paper or not.

Abstracts are available in many indexes to the journal literature, so you

don’t even need to find the actual article to determine whether it minght

be interesting toread.

Introduction

Provides the motivation for doing the experiment, explaining

“why did they bother?”

Explains prior research, and what the accepted understanding

of the field is.

In this case, there is a dispute between maclntosh and Smith, a

nd this paper seeks to settle the dispute.

Mehtod

Gives details on how the experiment was set up and carried out.

Should explain well enough that you could replicate the experiment yourse

lf, if you wanted to.

Often the hardest section to understand, since it contains specialized techin

ques. Skip this section until last.

When reading, skim and try to pick out basic methods used. Don’t worry t

hat much about the details—that’s for grad school

Ask your instructor or consult a scientific encyclopedia or textbook if you

don’t understand the concepts of the technique.

Results

This section provides the data the authors use to reach their conclusio

ns.

Figures are often included to make the data more compact and intuitiv

e, and tables organize data in one place for easier reading.

Understanding figures and tables is extremely important in understan

ding a paper.

For figures, make sure you understand what quantities are on the axes,

are they linear or lgarithmic, what units are plotted?

Discussion

This is where the author connects the dots—explaining what the data me

an, and why they support the conclusion.

Compare your own conclusions about the data with the author’s analysi

s.

When skimming the paper for the first time, after reading the abstract, r

ead the concluding section. It gives more detail on the specific results tha

t were found, and helps you determine whether the paper is relevant to y

our research question.

Acknowledgments 

Anyone or institution, association, who helped you: in

Technically (Including materials, supplies)

Intellectually (Assistance, advice)

Financially (Funding grants, departmental support, travel gra

nts)

References

Provides a list of resources quoted or referenced by the aut

hors

Allow you to go back to those resources to see why the auth

ors referenced that work, and whether those sources seem

reliable and accurate.

Format orf bibliography differs between journals. Here, it

goes: author….

Article information Nutrition, volume 2, issue 4, 2001 p8

Combined with the author/title infromation, it enables you to create a cit

ation for the article—so you can tell other people where to find it.

Remember, if you use the data or concepts from this paper, you must cite

it in your reports or publications. Failure to do that is:

Plagiarism

Which could lead to failure of a course, expulsion from purdue, and after

you leave school, legal consequences.

It’s always better to be safe, and cite all your sources.

Paper Reading

Dietary fiber and associations with adiposity and fas

ting insulin among college students with plausible di

etary reports

• Courtney E. Byrd-Williams, B.A., Myra L. Strother, M.D., Louise A.

Kelly, Ph.D., and Terry T.K.

• Huang, Ph.D.

• Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Southern California,

Los Angeles, CA (CBW);

• University of Kansas Student Health Services, Lawrence, KS (MLS);

• Department of Exercise Science, California Lutheran University, Thou

sand Oaks, CA (LAK);

• National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Bethesda,

MD (TTKH)

Abstract

• Objective—We examined the dietary fiber intake, food sources of dietary fiber,

and relationship of dietary fiber with body composition and metabolic paramet

ers in college students with plausible dietary reports.

• Research Methods & Procedures—Students (18–24 yrs) provided data on ant

hropometry, fasting blood chemistries, and body composition (bioelectric impe

dance). Diet and physical activity were assessed with the Diet History Question

naire and the International Physical Activity Questionnaire. Plausible dietary re

porters were identified (± 1 SD cutoffs for reported energy intake as a percenta

ge of predicted energy requirement). Multiple regression analyses were conduct

ed with the total (n=298) and plausible (n=123) samples, adjusting for age, race,

sex, smoking status, physical activity, energy intake, and fat free mass (where

applicable).

Abstract

• Results—Food sources of dietary fiber were similar in males and females. In

the plausible sample compared to the total sample, dietary fiber was more stro

ngly associated with fat mass (β=-0.24, p<0.001), percent body fat (β= -0.23,

p<0.001), BMI (β= -0.11, p<0.01), waist circumference (β=-0.67, p<0.05), an

d fasting insulin (β= -0.15, p<0.001). When the effect of sex was investigated,

dietary fiber was inversely related to fasting insulin and fat mass in men and

women and inversely related to percent body fat, BMI, and waist circumferen

ce in men only (p<0.05).

• Conclusions—Inclusion of implausible dietary reports may result in spurious

or weakened diet-health associations. Dietary fiber is negatively associated fa

sting insulin levels in males and females and consistently associated with adip

osity measures in males.

Keywords

• Diet; glucose; body composition; adults; hea

lth; food habits

Paper ReadingPolychlorinated Biphenyl-77 Induces Adipocyte Differe

ntiation and Proinflammatory Adipokines and Promot

es Obesity and Atherosclerosis

Paper Writing

• 1. Choose A topic

• 2. Put your results together

• 3. Make an outline

• 4. Organize your note

• 5. Write your first draft

• 6. Revise your outline and draft

• 7. Check list

1.Choose a topic

• Select a subject you can manage. Avoid subjects that are

too technical, learned, or specialized.

2.Put your results together

Write down all the results you have. Do some critical thinking and wri

te your thesis statement down in one sentence. Your thesis statement is

like a declaration of your belief. The main portion of your essay will co

nsist of arguments to support and defend this belief

All points must relate to the same major topic that you first mentioned

in your capital topic.

3. Make an outline

The purpose is to help you think through your topic carefully and organize it logically before you start writing.

A good outline is the most important step in writing a good paper. Check your outline to make sure that the points covered flow logically fro

m one to the other. Generally your outline will include an Introduction, Method and Materials, Results, Discussion, Conclusion.

In “Results”and ”Discussion” , you could have different sub-title to put your materials into it logically.

Organize all the information you have gathered according to your outline. Critically analyze your research data. Using the best available sources, check for accuracy and verify that the inf

ormation is factual, up-to-date, and correct. Opposing views should also be noted if they help to support your thesis.

4. Organize your note

Analyze, synthesize, sort, and digest the information you have gathere

d and hopefully learn something about your topic which is the real pur

pose of doing a research paper in the first place.

You must be able to effectively communicate your thoughts, ideas, insi

ghts, and research findings to others through written words as in a rep

ort, an essay, a research or term paper.

5. Write your first draft

Start with the first topic in your outline. Read all the relevant notes yo

u have gathered that have been marked.

Summarize, paraphrase or quote directly for each idea you plan to use

in your essay.

Use a technique that suits you, e.g. write summaries, paraphrases or q

uotations on note cards, or separate sheets of lined paper.

Mark each card or sheet of paper clearly with your outline code or ref

erence.

6. Revise your outline and draft

Read your paper for any content errors.

Double check the facts and figures.

Arrange and rearrange ideas to follow your outline.

Reorganize your outline if necessary, but always keep the p

urpose of your paper and your readers in mind.

7. Check list

1. Is my thesis statement concise and clear?

2. Did I follow my outline? Did I miss anything?

3. Are my arguments presented in a logical sequence?

4. Are all sources properly cited to ensure that I am not pla

giarizing?

5. Have I proved my thesis with strong supporting argume

nts?

6. Have I made my intentions and points clear in the essay?