reading list research papers

Princeton Correspondents on Undergraduate Research

Proven Tips on How to Read Scientific Literature

A printed article with yellow highlighting under a blue pen with the hands of the person reading and annotating.

In our undergraduate years, as we get involved with research and science, it can be incredibly overwhelming to read scientific literature. It’s easy to drown in hundreds of thousands of articles with fancy-sounding titles, pages and pages of complex writings, and dozens of figures that you have no idea what they mean. However, reading scientific literature is a necessary skill to have, and you must be able to understand what scientists know, and what they don’t.

Therefore, I’ve created a list of tips and advice to tackle scientific literature as an undergraduate. Follow my advice, and you’re on your way to impress your supervisors with your knowledge, and create a nuanced understanding of where your research lies within the body of knowledge that scientists have been cultivating!

Step 1: Know how to filter for papers of interest.

To kick things off, you’ll need to know how to filter for papers you need. To find papers relevant to your own research, you’ll need to apply specific filters. Take, for example, breast cancer research I was working on this summer – if I simply type into Google Scholar, “breast cancer,” 3.9 million results pop up. Even the most prolific and dedicated researcher could not meaningfully process the information in so many articles. Additionally, the vast majority of these papers are not actually relevant to the specific project I was working on. The key is to narrow the papers down to a specific niche, rather than an entire field of research.

Now, let’s try to narrow down this research. For example, I was looking at the role of a specific protein called “C-X-C-R-4” in breast cancer. Typing that into google scholar yields 370,000 results. While this was useful at the very beginning and I was trying to understand the rule of this specific protein, this search was still much too broad for my specific research. To narrow down even further, I typed, ‘“CXCR4” AND “tumor-associated macrophages.” Pro tip: when you type in quoted words with an ‘and’ in between, the search bar will find papers with both of those keywords. Now, this search reveals 4,500 papers. Still far too much for me to go through in a short timespan, but now I’ve narrowed down papers that are specifically relevant to a niche that I’m trying to carve for myself. Adding in another protein of interest yields me less than 200 papers, each of which are quite relevant to my own research. Now, I can begin to understand what scientists know, and more importantly, what they don’t – this provides me, the researcher, an opportunity to dig into some exciting work.

So you’ve found papers of interest that are specifically relevant to your own project, and now you have to actually understand the information there. If you feel like you’re being assaulted with unnecessarily complex terms, acronyms, and visuals, never fear! I have some proven strategies that can help process the information to make it manageable and useful.

Step 2: The Abstract

To start, always read the abstract. This gives you a simplified version of the context behind the research, the author’s reasoning, the actual work they did, their results, and what they mean. This will also help you decide whether or not this paper is actually worth reading in its entirety. More often than not, even with the golden keywords that you searched for, when you read the abstract of papers, you’ll realize that they’re not quite relevant in the way you’re hoping for your own work. This way, you’ll be able to save your own time and move on to the next paper, rather than reading the entire paper and not realizing their irrelevance until you get to the discussion.

Step 3: Introduction

If you’ve determined that this article has promise, move on to the introduction. Here, you’ll understand more deeply why scientists are interested in this specific section. You’ll want to read this section carefully, especially in topics that are difficult to understand – here is where the authors will describe their foundations for their research, or their “step 1,” as clearly as they ever will. If you want to understand the process that these scientists are following, this section is critical.

Step 4: Methods

The methods section, designed for replication, can often be skipped unless you plan to adopt specific techniques from the paper. You might be picking and choosing which of their gleaned information you want to use as you’re forging your own project path. As you’re trying to get acquainted with the field and design your own project, getting into the weeds of specifics for how scientists ran their experiments usually won’t be necessary, as long as you can understand and interpret their results. However, this information will be useful if you intend to use a certain technique or method in a similar approach that they do.

Step 5: Results

The results section, arguably the most useful, is where you’ll be able to find out the actual new information that these scientists are publishing. Typically, looking at the graphs in this section will be the fastest way to understand the data that these scientists generated. If there are certain types of graphs or pictures that you don’t understand, take a look carefully and read the description of those specific figures. If you have to, do some Googling to figure out how to read these graphs. As you get experienced in reading papers, this step will become faster and more intuitive. While the options seem endless, there is a limited amount of types of graphs and figures that scientists make!

Step 6: Discussion

The discussion is where the investigators discuss the implications of their research. This section is useful if you feel that you still haven’t gotten the full grasp of their research, but it won’t necessarily give you a lot of new information.

Step 7: Taking notes

Even if you fully understand what each paper is discussing, most likely you’ll be looking at dozens of different articles for your researchers. Even the most veteran researcher couldn’t hope to retain everything after absorbing so much information. Therefore, I use specific techniques to make sure I understand what I need from each paper.

After each paper I read, I try to write down any relevant information that they’ve determined in a notebook in bullet forms. For instance: “this tumor is an issue because [x]. Targeting this protein poses a promising therapy because [y].” Remember, these notes are for you and for you only! If it helps you to include fun tidbits or metaphors to help you understand, that’s your prerogative. I myself likened tumor-associated macrophages to cells mind-controlled by cancer. Arrows and drawings are also your friends. Even something as simple as “Immunosuppressive protein ↑ = Immune system ↓ = Cancer growth = bad. Protein inhibitor → immunosuppressive protein ↓ = Immune system ↑ = Cancer remission = good!” Can be enormously helpful. No matter how complex research seems, a shocking amount of it will always be “when this goes down, that goes up. When we do this, these go up, and this is good or bad because…” Then things will make more sense as you add in the scientific lingo when you write about your own research!

Step 8: Read. A lot.

With all of these tips, you can finally understand and process academic research! Even following these steps, you won’t necessarily find the perfect articles for your own work. You’ll have to read many articles to find the information you need. Don’t get discouraged! This is part of the research process. I’d also recommend using Princeton library’s vast resources to find more articles and papers that you could use.

Let the current research guide your own. For instance, if one paper says that a certain piece of information is lacking, try and find it in other papers — and if can’t, that’s an opportunity for you to fill in some gap of missing knowledge in the scientific corpus. Remember, scientists are collaborators: we work together to find the knowledge we need.

And there you have it – you can turn reading research literature into a manageable task if you follow these steps. Good luck to aspiring scientists and investigators!

— Gabriel Ascoli , Humanities Correspondent

Designing effective reading lists

Questions to consider when preparing reading lists.

Students' approaches to reading lists vary, depending on the type of lists they have previously encountered, how they have been expected to use these, their research skills and whether they have had practice reviewing and evaluating literature. Creating reading lists that are structured, focused and contextualised help students to plan and engage with reading. This resource introduces four questions to consider when designing reading lists.

Further guidance is available on creating targeted reading lists to support disabled students .

How is the list structured?

Students will encounter numerous reading lists, each with its own structure and expectations for use. Once you've chosen a structure, make it clear to students why it is structured in this way and how you expect students to use it. A clear structure will enable students to prioritise reading and make appropriate use of resources. Here are some suggestions for ways to structure your list, which can be used on their own or together:

Highlight core and additional reading. This is particularly important for lengthy reading lists. Highlighting particularly useful chapters or sections can help students to organise and focus their reading, which is key if students are expected to complete reading during short term-times.
Identify topics. Some reading lists may cover a variety of topics, so consider grouping the list according to these. This will help students to prioritise what’s relevant for each particular question or area of study and pursue developing interests.
Timetable reading. If you plan to focus on a particular text or topic each week or teaching session, consider making this explicit, for example, by using headings such as ‘Week 1 Reading’. This will mean that students know what is expected of them for each session and can plan the order in which they choose to read texts.

In addition to structuring your reading list, consider providing brief annotations for each of your recommended readings. This might include information about why you’ve included it and what the main focus of it is (this is not always obvious from the title alone). Having some contextual information such as this will help the student to be more effective in their reading. It gives students the ability to judge which resources are most appropriate for their topic or interests, highlights aspects to pay attention to in their reading, and reduces the burden of having to locate and skim-read numerous texts that may not be relevant.

How accessible is the reading?

To ensure students can access the resources you plan to include in your list, try the following:

Check SOLO . It's a simple step, but searching the University's library listings to check whether copies of the text are available (either electronically or in libraries) is essential. If there’s only one copy of the book, if it is out of print, or if your students can’t access a resource because it isn’t available in their college or department library, consider whether it is essential. If it is, share key chapters or sections by scanning and creating a PDF file. This is essential if learning is taking place online and students can't access libraries.
Make your list available in advance. It can take at least six weeks for students to receive texts in alternative formats such as Braille, enlarged print, or audio recordings. Make your reading list available early to give students with specific learning requirements sufficient time to request copies that they can use.
Use Oxford Reading Lists Online (ORLO) . ORLO provides direct links from the citation to the full electronic text, if available, or to the library catalogue listing, making texts more accessible for everyone. Those using text-to-speech software can have immediate access because it is in digital form. Direct access to electronic versions from the reading list greatly enhances accessibility for disabled people. The system enables reading lists to be structured, annotated and formatted. For more information about the availability contact ORLO .

Does the list reflect the full range of available resources?

Update lists. If re-using an old reading list, check it is up-to-date and includes the most recent editions of texts. New texts or alternative resources may have been published since the reading list was first written, which may need adding.
Invite student feedback. Have your students found a recommended resource or text especially helpful or unhelpful? Perhaps they have identified an alternative text which they found relevant and engaging. Inviting feedback from your students about how they used the reading list and engaged with the suggested texts will help you to develop a list that includes the most relevant and useful range of resources.
Diversify. To suit different modes of teaching and learning, try to include a range of resources in different formats, such as books (paper and electronic versions), journal articles, websites, podcasts and videos. In addition to diversifying your resources, check whether your list includes a range of perspectives and contributors or if it overlooks certain voices and debates. Reflect on the perspectives and voices you’re asking students to engage with and whether these are balanced.

How does it support students’ research skills?

Some ideas are listed below to help you to support students to develop the skills to find and evaluate material independently, either beyond the reading list or when no reading list is provided. These will work best when explicitly introduced as standalone activities as students will more clearly see the aim and purpose of the exercise.

Provide a starting point. Provide students with a list of just a few key journals and invite them to find relevant peer-reviewed material on a specific topic. Doing this in a group, where students can compare results, will prompt discussion about the different techniques and search methods they used.
Build a list. Asking students to work alone or in pairs to design their own reading list on a topic can give insights into the research and evaluation skills that students currently have and those they need to develop to further.
Provide resources to evaluate. This can be done as a short in-class activity where you provide students with a handful of resources and give them a specified amount of time to select which ones are most relevant and appropriate for a particular topic/question. Getting students to feed back their decisions and the rationale about the resources they chose and those they discarded, can provide an opportunity to brainstorm the different techniques that students can use to evaluate material. For example, reading abstracts, searching for key words, identifying the source of publication, and so on. Alternatively, reverse the activity so that different students/pairings are each provided with a different aspect to focus on (eg reading abstracts) and use this to compare the different approaches and their results.
Use a cover sheet. An example of an ongoing activity is to ask students to fill in a cover sheet accompanying submitted work. The sheet invites them to reflect on which resources they used, why, how they identified them, how much of them they read, and whether they used them in the task. This will help students to reflect on their research and analysis skills, for example, they may waste time reading lots of material they never use in the assignment, or they may get caught in a cycle of following endless footnotes and references. Identifying these areas will help you and the student to see where they need to develop - and how - and what they are already doing well.
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