Reading Paper

PhD PROGRAM RESEARCH MATRIX

LECTURE

6 READING A SCIENTIFIC PAPER

PhD PROGRAM RESEARCH MATRIX

OBJECTIVES to demonstrate a guide for reading a scientific paper

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NEEDS Vocabulary

Skill Experience

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GUIDE LINES 4

STEPS

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ADVICES APPROACH READING THE ARTICLE STEP BY STEP An impossible-looking paper can be understood

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1 Look at the paper quickly Few minutes Get an over View

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ACTIONS

1 NOTE BASICS HEADINGS FIGURES TABLES

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1 Just have an overview

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2 Objective to be sure that every word & phrase are clear with their exact meaning

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2 Vocabulary Go through word by word & line by line

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2 Vocabulary Underline every word and phrase you do not understand

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2 Vocabulary You may have a lot of underlines NO Worries

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2 Vocabulary You are not trying to make sense of the article

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2 Vocabulary You have Vocabulary Questions & Concept Questions

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2 Vocabulary Find out the meaning of every word and phrase underlined

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2 Vocabulary Form questions in the form What is ……. ? Definitions

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Vocabulary In Some Cases Shelf Dictionary can not help - misleading Scientists may use some words in another way

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2 Vocabulary Misleading EXAMPLES efficiency

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2 Vocabulary Efficiency has a common meaning Physical definition is more restricted

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Vocabulary For more accurate explanation May be found in relevant text book is needed

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2 Vocabulary Get an understanding from the context in which it is used Words very specific to the paper Words describing procedure of experiments

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2 Vocabulary Get an understanding from the context in which it is used "Stage II FCG" in a fatigue crack growth test

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Vocabulary Get an understanding from the context in which it is used “Roughness induced CTC” in a paper relevant to a topic in Fatigue

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Vocabulary Get an understanding from the context in which it is used “Fracture Toughness KIC" in a Fracture mechanics paper

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2 “extent of reversed plasticity" in a Fracture mechanics paper

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Vocabulary BE SURE OF THE MEANING of each terminology

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Vocabulary Phrases belong to the major concepts of the paper This is bigger than a vocabulary question

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2 Vocabulary Phrases belong to the major concepts of the paper Examples CRACK TIP DEFORMATION

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2 Vocabulary Phrases belong to the major concepts of the paper Examples Plasticity induced crack tip closure

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2 Vocabulary Phrases belong to the major concepts of the paper Examples Roughness induced crack tip closure

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2 Vocabulary Phrases belong to the major concepts of the paper Examples Extent of reversed plasticity

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Vocabulary Phrases belong to the major concepts of the paper Understanding the context in depth

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3 Objective understanding the paper section by section

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3 Go back read the paper section by section

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INTRODUCTION What is the main questions to be answered by this work? What are the papers which the author summarizes in that section? How does the author comment on those previous researches? Distinguish previous research & the reported study Why is this work carried out?

Which gap will it fill?

What is the motive of doing that research?

Why this work is important? How will it approach the solution? Exp. - Num. – Anal. – Theor. What is the hypothesis of this work?

How it is verified?

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METHODS Get a clear picture of What was done at each step Outline and sketch the instruments Make notes of your questions Some: technical Others: more fundamental

Get a clear picture of What was done at each step Outline and sketch the procedures Write down your reflection & Criticisms

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RESULTS Look carefully at the figures & tables Heart of most papers What scientists do? understand each figure redraw it explain it in plain words

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DISCUSSION very important for it includes Conclusions drawn from the data A lot of interpretation Reflection from the author on the work

its meaning in relation to other’s finding

its meaning in relation to the field

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REFLECTION & CRITICISMS Summarize the paper Draw your own conclusions Keep track of your previous questions See whether they have been answered Raise more questions to be answered

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QUESTIONS TO BE RAISED INTRODUCTION What is the overall purpose of the research? How does the research fits into its field? Show the validity of a new technique Show agreement for studying the problem in the presented way

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QUESTIONS TO BE RAISED METHOD Were the measurements appropriate for the questions the researcher was approaching? Does the author measure his variable directly? If the answer is NO because he cannot Does he use indicators to measure? E.g. CMOD to indicate CTOD Were the measures related to the variable? Do the variables studied represent the problem?

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QUESTIONS TO BE RAISED RESULTS What is the major finding? Were the data presented enough to reach the objective? Are there some Patterns & trends which are not mentioned? Were there problems that should be addressed?

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QUESTIONS TO BE RAISED DISCUSSION Do you agree with the conclusions? Were conclusions over general? Were conclusions over conservative? Were conclusions carefully stated? Are there other factors that could affect the results and the conclusions? What further experiments you suggest to continue? What further experiments you suggest to continue to answer remaining questions?