Reading Scientific Literature*

*taken from Chapter 3 – A Short Guide to Writing About Biology

What do scientists read?

• Primary Literature – presents original observations and experiments and includes detailed information about how those observations or experiments were made or conducted.

• Articles published in the primary literature are subjected to rigorous peer review. They are then usually published in research journals.

What do scientists read?

• Secondary literature – is based on summaries of the primary literature. Textbooks, magazine articles, encyclopedias and review articles are all examples of secondary literature.

List of Biological Journals Available in SMC Library

• American Midland Naturalist• American Naturalist• Animal Behavior• Animal Learning and Behavior• Biological Bulletin• Botany• Cell• Conservation Biology (available via JSTOR)• Ecological Applications• Ecological Monographs• Ecological Restoration• Ecology• EMBO Journal• Evolution• Genetical Research• Genetics

• International Journal of Plant Science• Invertebrate Biology• Journal of Experimental Zoology• Journal of Mammalogy• Journal of the American Medical

Association• Journal of Wildlife Management• Microbiology• Molecular and Cellular Biology• Nature• Physiologia Plantarum• Physiology and Behavior• Planta• Quarterly Review of Biology• Science• Wildlife Monographs

Guide to Effective Reading • What specific questions were asked?• How was the study designed and how does the design of

the study address the questions asked?• What are the controls for each experiment?• What are the specific results of the study? How

convincing are the results? Are any results surprising?• What assumptions were made? Do they seem

reasonable?• What contribution does the study make toward

answering the original question?• What aspects of the original question remain

unanswered?

Reading the Data

• Data are displayed in either figures or tables – both must be examined critically

• Your goal is to make your own interpretation of the data so that you can better understand or evaluate the author’s interpretation

• Therefore, you must study the data and ask yourself questions about how the study was done, why it was done and what the major findings are

Reading the Data

• As you look at the figures and tables, summarize the data as you go. This will help you digest the material and generate your own ideas about the data.

• Go through summarizing the material figure by figure, table by table until you reach the end of the data.

• Now you can see why it is important for each figure or table to be self-contained

Reading the Text

• As before – summarize the material as you go• Take notes by summarizing the material in

your own words – do not take notes or write while you are looking at the source

• Your notes and summaries should be in outline or bullet point form – they do not need to be in complete sentences

Final Note

• Effective, critical reading of the primary literature takes time – I find I must usually read each article at least twice to fully digest it

• I typically read it over once quickly to get a general feel for the article, and then re-read it slowly, carefully examining the data and taking notes

• You may use a different method, but do not underestimate how long it takes to properly read the primary literature or how hard you must work to understand it

Peer Review