HowtoReadaScientificPaper如何阅读科学性论文Word格式文档下载.docx

HowtoReadaScientificPaper如何阅读科学性论文Word格式文档下载.docx

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HowdoIpreparetoreadapaper,particularlyinanareanotsofamiliartome?

3. 

WhatdifficultiescanIexpect?

4. 

HowdoIunderstandandevaluate 

thecontentsofthepaper?

1.Organizationofapaper

Inmostscientificjournals,scientificpapersfollowastandardformat.Theyaredividedintoseveralsections,andeachsectionservesaspecificpurposeinthepaper.Wefirstdescribethestandardformat,thensomevariationsonthatformat.

Apaperbeginswithashort 

Summary 

or 

Abstract.Generally,itgivesabriefbackgroundtothetopic;

describesconciselythemajorfindingsofthepaper;

andrelatesthesefindingstothefieldofstudy.Aswillbeseen,thislogicalorderisalsothatofthepaperasawhole.

Thenextsectionofthepaperisthe 

Introduction.Inmanyjournalsthissectionisnotgivenatitle.Asitsnameimplies,thissectionpresentsthebackgroundknowledgenecessaryforthereadertounderstandwhythefindingsofthepaperareanadvanceontheknowledgeinthefield.Typically,theIntroductiondescribesfirsttheacceptedstateofknowledgeinaspecializedfield;

thenitfocusesmorespecificallyonaparticularaspect,usuallydescribingafindingorsetoffindingsthatleddirectlytotheworkdescribedinthepaper.Iftheauthorsaretestingahypothesis,thesourceofthathypothesisisspelledout,findingsaregivenwithwhichitisconsistent,andoneormorepredictionsaregiven.Inmanypapers,oneorseveralmajorconclusionsofthepaperarepresentedattheendofthissection,sothatthereaderknowsthemajoranswerstothequestionsjustposed.Papersmoredescriptiveorcomparativeinnaturemaybeginwithanintroductiontoanareawhichintereststheauthors,ortheneedforabroaderdatabase.

Thenextsectionofmostpapersisthe 

MaterialsandMethods.Insomejournalsthissectionisthelastone.Itspurposeistodescribethematerialsusedintheexperimentsandthemethodsbywhichtheexperimentswerecarriedout.Inprinciple,thisdescriptionshouldbedetailedenoughtoallowotherresearcherstoreplicatethework.Inpractice,thesedescriptionsareoftenhighlycompressed,andtheyoftenreferbacktopreviouspapersbytheauthors.

Thethirdsectionisusually 

Results.Thissectiondescribestheexperimentsandthereasonstheyweredone.Generally,thelogicoftheResultssectionfollowsdirectlyfromthatoftheIntroduction.Thatis,theIntroductionposesthequestionsaddressedintheearlypartofResults.Beyondthispoint,theorganizationofResultsdiffersfromonepapertoanother.Insomepapers,theresultsarepresentedwithoutextensivediscussion,whichisreservedforthefollowingsection.Thisisappropriatewhenthedataintheearlypartsdonotneedtobeinterpretedextensivelytounderstandwhythelaterexperimentsweredone.Inotherpapers,resultsaregiven,andthentheyareinterpreted,perhapstakentogetherwithotherfindingsnotinthepaper,soastogivethelogicalbasisforlaterexperiments.

Thefourthsectionisthe 

Discussion.Thissectionservesseveralpurposes.First,thedatainthepaperareinterpreted;

thatis,theyareanalyzedtoshowwhattheauthorsbelievethedatashow.Anylimitationstotheinterpretationsshouldbeacknowledged,andfactshouldclearlybeseparatedfromspeculation.Second,thefindingsofthepaperarerelatedtootherfindingsinthefield.Thisservestoshowhowthefindingscontributetoknowledge,orcorrecttheerrorsofpreviouswork.Asstated,someoftheselogicalargumentsareoftenfoundintheResultswhenitisnecessarytoclarifywhylaterexperimentswerecarriedout.AlthoughyoumightarguethatinthiscasethediscussionmaterialshouldbepresentedintheIntroduction,moreoftenyoucannotgraspitssignificanceuntilthefirstpartofResultsisgiven.

Finally,papersusuallyhaveashort 

Acknowledgements 

section,inwhichvariouscontributionsofotherworkersarerecognized,followedbya 

Reference 

listgivingreferencestopapersandotherworkscitedinthetext.

Papersalsocontainseveral 

Figures 

and 

Tables.Thesecontaindatadescribedinthepaper.Thefiguresandtablesalsohavelegends,whosepurposeistogivedetailsoftheparticularexperimentorexperimentsshownthere.Typically,ifaprocedureisusedonlyonceinapaper,thesedetailsaredescribedinMaterialsandMethods,andtheFigureorTablelegendrefersbacktothatdescription.Ifaprocedureisusedrepeatedly,however,ageneraldescriptionisgiveninMaterialsandMethods,andthedetailsforaparticularexperimentaregivenintheTableorFigurelegend.

Variationsontheorganizationofapaper

Inmostscientificjournals,theaboveformatisfollowed.Occasionally,theResultsandDiscussionarecombined,incasesinwhichthedataneedextensivediscussiontoallowthereadertofollowthetrainoflogicdevelopedinthecourseoftheresearch.Asstated,insomejournals,MaterialsandMethodsfollowstheDiscussion.Incertainolderpapers,theSummarywasgivenattheendofthepaper.

Theformatsfortwowidely-readjournals, 

Science 

Nature,differmarkedlyfromtheaboveoutline.Thesejournalsreachawideaudience,andmanyauthorswishtopublishinthem;

accordingly,thespacelimitationsonthepapersaresevere,andtheproseisusuallyhighlycompressed.Inbothjournals,therearenodiscretesections,exceptforashortabstractandareferencelist.InScience,theabstractisself-contained;

in 

Nature,theabstractalsoservesasabriefintroductiontothepaper.Experimentaldetailsareusuallygiveneitherinendnotes（for 

Science）orFigureandTablelegendsandashortMethodssection（in 

Nature）.Authorsoftentrytocircumventlengthlimitationsbyputtingasmuchmaterialaspossibleintheseplaces.Inaddition,anincreasinglycommonpracticeistoputasubstantialfractionoftheless-importantmaterial,andmuchofthemethodology,intoSupplementalDatathatcanbeaccessedonline.

Manyotherjournalsalsohavelengthlimitations,whichsimilarlyleadtoaneedforconciseness.Forexample,the 

ProceedingsoftheNationalAcademyofSciences 

（PNAS）hasasix-pagelimit;

Cell 

severelyeditsmanypaperstoshortenthem,andhasashortwordlimitintheabstract;

andsoon.

Inresponsetothepressuretoeditandmakethepaperconcise,manyauthorschoosetocondenseor,moretypically,omitthelogicalconnectionsthatwouldmaketheflowofthepapereasy.Inaddition,muchofthebackgroundthatwouldmakethepaperaccessibletoawideraudienceiscondensedoromitted,sothattheless-informedreaderhastoconsultareviewarticleorpreviouspaperstomakesenseofwhattheissuesareandwhytheyareimportant.Finally,again,authorsoftencircumventpagelimitationsbyputtingcrucialdetailsintotheFigureandTablelegends,especiallywhen（asin 

PNAS）thesearesetinsmallertype.Fortunately,therecentwidespreadpracticeofputtingless-criticalmaterialintoonlinesupplementalmaterialhaslessenedthepressuretocompresscontentsodrastically,butitisstillaproblemforolderpapers.

Backtooutline

2.Readingascientificpaper

Althoughitistemptingtoreadthepaperstraightthroughasyouwoulddowithmosttext,itismoreefficienttoorganizethewayyouread.Generally,youfirstreadtheAbstractinordertounderstandthemajorpointsofthework.Theextentofbackgroundassumedbydifferentauthors,andallowedbythejournal,alsovariesasjustdiscussed.

OneextremelyusefulhabitinreadingapaperistoreadtheTitleandtheAbstractand,beforegoingon,reviewinyourmindwhatyouknowaboutthetopic.Thisservesseveralpurposes.First,itclarifieswhetheryouinfactknowenoughbackgroundtoappreciatethepaper.Ifnot,youmightchoosetoreadthebackgroundinareviewortextbook,asappropriate.

Second,itrefreshesyourmemoryaboutthetopic.Third,andperhapsmostimportantly,ithelpsyouasthereaderintegratethenewinformationintoyourpreviousknowledgeaboutthetopic.Thatis,itisusedasapartoftheself-educationprocessthatanyprofessionalmustcontinuethroughouthis/hercareer.

Ifyouareveryfamiliarwiththefield,theIntroductioncanbeskimmedorevenskipped.Asstatedabove,thelogicalflowofmostpapersgoesstraightfromtheIntroductiontoResults;

accordingly,thepapershouldbereadinthatwayaswell,skippingMaterialsandMethodsandreferringbacktothissectionasneededtoclarifywhatwasactuallydone.AreaderfamiliarwiththefieldwhoisinterestedinaparticularpointgivenintheAbstractoftenskipsdirectlytotherelevantsectionoftheResults,andfromtheretotheDiscussionforinterpretationofthefindings.Thisisonlyeasytodoifthepaperisorganizedproperly.

Codewords

Manypaperscontainshorthandphrasesthatwemightterm'

codewords'

sincetheyhaveconnotationsthataregenerallynotexplicit.Inmanypapers,notalltheexperimentaldataareshown,butreferredtoby"

（datanotshown）"

.Thisisoftenforreasonsofspace;

thepracticeisacceptedwhentheauthorshavedocumentedtheircompetencetodotheexperimentsproperly（usuallyinpreviouspapers）.Twoothercodewordsare"

unpublisheddata"

and"

preliminarydata"

.Theformercaneith