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How to (seriously) read a scientific paper

What do you do when there is something you don’t understand?

I like to read online so that I can easily cut and paste words I don’t know into a browser to check what they mean.
- McNutt

If it’s only a few things in the article, I’ll make a note to look them up later. If I am really struggling to proceed through the paper, I try to look up a review article or a textbook chapter to give me the necessary background to proceed, which I generally find much more efficient.

There are a lot of acronyms and jargon that can be subfield-specific, so I usually don’t wade through the details unless it’s for my own research. But I always try to take my time to really understand the methods being used.
- Shanahan

I will typically pause immediately to look up things I don’t understand. The rest of the reading may not make sense if I don’t understand a key phrase or jargon (行话，术语). This can backfire (适得其反) a bit, though, as I often go down never-ending rabbit holes after looking something up (就像我经常在寻找什么东西后掉进永无止尽的兔子洞) (What is X? Oh, X influences Y. … So what’s Y? etc…). This can be sort of fun as you learn how everything is connected, but if you’re crunched for time (时间紧迫) this can pull your attention away from the task at hand.

Sometimes, all the jargon in a paper can cloud the whole point of the experiments in the first place. In such cases, it helps to ask yourself, “What question were the authors trying to answer?” Then you can determine whether they succeeded or failed.
- Borniger

It depends on how much the non-understandable bits prevent me from following the main ideas. I usually do not try to understand all the details in all the sections the first time I read a paper. If non-understandable parts appear important for my research, I try to ask colleagues or even contact the lead author directly. Going back to the original references to get all the background information is the last resort, because time can be limited and collaborations (合作) and personal contacts can be much more efficient in solving specific problems.
- Tubiana

Sometimes, you can just read through a paper and any terms you’re not familiar with will become clearer by the end. If it is very heavy going, then stopping and seeking additional information is usually the way to go. I do a quick Google search on the topic, theme, method, jargon, etc. If it is a very dense article, sometimes it will require a few read-throughs (通读) before it all starts to make sense.
- Gray

The question I ask myself is, “Do I need to understand what that means in order to get what I need from this paper?” I now read articles in research areas well outside of my expertise, and I often don’t need more than superficial (表面的；肤浅的 ) knowledge of the substantive (有实质的；大量的) content. If I can’t do anything with the paper unless I don’t understand that depth, then I do more background research.
- Nosek

Lately, I have had to read a number of papers outside my area of expertise with a lot of unfamiliar jargon. In some cases, I am able to directly extract the information I need from the results or figures and tables. In other cases, I use Google searches to define terms and concepts in the paper or read the cited references to better understand the points being made. Occasionally, papers are so incomprehensible ( 费解的) (to me, at least) that I don’t bother reading them.
- Fox

See you tomorrow