Introduction to Literature Searching and Reading Scientific Papers
This article explains: how to do a literature review, how to read scientific papers, and how to find research ideas.
It takes a long time to do a literature search. This article will help you read more effectively by reducing your reading and reviewing time. There are numerous techniques to efficiently reading a paper. You should give it a try and perhaps create your own approach.
Where to find papers?
Any paper search engine will work. I recommend Google Scholar because it is simple to use and free (but sometimes does not give the best result).[3]
There are paper databases that require payment to read and download papers. If you are a university student, you can connect to them because universities purchase those services.[3]
I’ve heard that there are illegal pirate paper databases where papers can be downloaded for free. I cannot recommend them, and it is your obligation to determine whether or not they are ethical.[3]
How to read a paper?
Read the title, abstract, and introduction, and conclusion carefully
Reading the title and abstract will give you an idea of what the paper is about. If you still want to read more, you can do so by reading the introduction and the conclusion.[1][2]
Skip the Introduction if you know the background
If you are familiar with the domain, you may skip the introduction because the introduction is mostly background knowledge.[1]
Glance over the references
Mentally tick the ones you’ve already read and save the ones you wish to read later.[2]
At this stage, you can answer 5 C’s of this paper
Category
What kind of paper is it? Is it a measurement article, a system analysis, or a description of a research prototype?[2]
Context
Which other papers is it related to? Which theoretical bases were used to analyze the problem? [2]
Correctness
Are assumptions valid?[2]
Contributions
What are the primary contributions of the paper?[2]
Clarity
Is the paper written well?[2]
Scan the Methods
The methods used will assist you in determining the validity of the results.[2]
Read Results and Focus on the Figures
The majority of your time should be spent in the results section. [1] Analyze figures while considering their validity. [2]
Tackle the discussion
The discussion section is an excellent area to see if you truly understand the paper’s results and overall message. [1]
Save papers and take notes about them
Save papers and take notes about papers summary with tags. Doing a literature review requires reading a lot of papers. Therefore you need to store them, take notes about them and add tags to find and remember them.[3]
Save papers and make notes with tags about paper summaries. A literature review requires reading numerous papers. Therefore, you must save them, take notes about them, and tag them in order to find and remember them. [3]
Final Step
Finally, you can read a paper completely to fully grasp it. You can also replicate the techniques described in the paper and do your own experiments to validate and comprehend.[2]
How to save papers and take notes?
Make a word document with three titles written in it: review history, ideas, and summary. As you read more papers, enter their titles and summaries of those papers in summaries title, your ideas in ideas title and what you accomplished that day in review history.[3]
For example:
Review history: I searched the first page on Google Scholar for the last 4 years about deep learning.
Ideas: Deep Learning in enemy defense strategy in war games.
Summary: Deep learning in video games. This paper is about deep learning examples in video games that are currently used.
How to find a research idea?
First, make a word document in which you list the things that interest you and those you are familiar with. Then do a literature search to find ideas. Consider your capability, knowledge, and whether or not the idea has already been made. [4]
In Google Scholar first search anytime. This will give the most cited ones. Review the first 4 pages. Then search the last 4 year’s papers. Some methods depreciate with time, searching last 4 years will give you a better idea about the popular methods.[3]
First, search in Google Scholar at any time and examine the first four pages. This will return the most cited papers. Then search for the last 4 years and examine the first four pages. Some methods depreciate over time; searching the last four years will provide you with a better understanding of the most popular approaches used recently. [3]
If you enjoyed this article, please do not forget to clap. Thank you.
References:
[1]Ellen Moran,(January 20, 2020), How to Read a Scientific Paper Efficiently:
https://bitesizebio.com/11060/how-to-read-a-scientific-paper/
[2]S. Keshav,” How to Read a Paper”
https://web.stanford.edu/class/ee384m/Handouts/HowtoReadPaper.pdf
[3]AkademikLink,(21 May 2019),Literatür Taraması Nasıl Yapılır:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsFlEBcTxyE&t=808s
[4]Market Power,(31 August 2020), How To Find a Research Topic In Less Than 60 MIN:
