I have heard people make comments like “this woman, you too like book o!”, “you sabi read oo”. Some people have asked me that very common question you get when you decide to go the path of research.
How do you read all these journal articles, books etc?
Especially since you have written a comprehensive review and that requires one to read so many journal publications to form ideas and produce critical and constructive analysis of the topic.
Did you have to read the all the articles cover to cover?
My answer: Absolutely NO!
I perfected this skills during my PhD years. To some, this is a little late to others, damn! I’m lucky. Whatever side of the coin you fall on, you would agree with me that having and horning this skill will save you loads of times. Just like you, it was during one of my many discussions with my friend and former colleague that I realised I indeed had this skill.
He had just completed his PhD and we were talking research and life as researcher. I asked him “how you dey take read this plenty articles? I dey write review but the papers too much.” Maybe I didn’t phrase the question like this but this is just to give you context.
Prior to our talk, I used to peruse the introductory part of the article, then the concluding part. Him sharing his reading techniques with me confirmed that I was in fact doing the right thing. So the tips he shared and my own techniques are what I will be discussing in this post.
How can you read research papers quickly and effectively?
Every paper need not be read in depth at the beginning. When you first come across a research article, before you even think of downloading and saving it, these are things you should do to ascertain if the paper will need to be saved or passed.
Read the title
The title is the biggest selling point of the paper and it give the reader an idea of the topic that will be discussed within the paper. In some cases, you get the
Go on to read the abstract
Abstract are structured in a way to give the reader a brief summary of the paper. The first few lines usually focuses on the background and the research gap answering questions “why did the authors write the paper?, what were they trying to achieve?” Then, the methods and finally the findings and conclusions. This is typical of many journal articles. At this point you have built an idea of the paper and formed your decision. But don’t end here and sometimes you may need more details.
Browse the introduction
Take a look at the first and last part of the introduction. The first paragraph discusses the background and the last paragraph typically gives you the aim and objectives/their intentions. So typically, the hypothesis, intended approach, objectives are discussed in the last part of introduction. I mostly start here sometimes.
Skim through other section headings and sub-headings
Doing this will give you a general overview of each sub-section and what will be discussed there. I would say do not spend too long here. If you see an interesting method, note that either by highlighting or underlining or whatever technique works for you.
Jump to the conclusion
Conclusions reiterates key findings that supports the hypothesis of the research paper. The authors may choose to restate their main arguments and in some cases recommendations for future work are stated.
With this information, you would have had a complete idea of the journal article. If you want more depth or if your paper grabs your attention, you can look at the figures and tables to either pick out key findings or maybe how they presentation styles. No harm in that.
Lastly, take a look at the reference list. By doing so, you could identify key contributor(s) to that topic or subject area.
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