look at attached images, too!!

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So one of the biggest problems I’ve had when I first started doing research was reading journal articles. I remember the first time reading my very first journal article. It was about HDL-cholesterol and different methods in isolating them. It literally took me DAYS to understand what was going on in that article. Since I’ve now had my fair share of journal articles to read, I learned how to critically read them and which ideas to look out for. So I wanted to share my own personal approach on how I tackle these crazy (yet very very useful) journal articles!

• Gather what you need.

I pretty much use 1 highlighter and two pens of different colors (I’m using the Stabilo point 88 pen sets, which can be found in Amazon. I love them because they don’t stink, and they don’t bleed!). I also bring a clipboard with me (which I got from Daiso for $1.50) because I like to read wherever I go. And don’t forget your article! -note: to print or not to print? I personally printed this because I need it for class. you can always annotate in your computers or tablets, because it saves paper. I usually print the important articles I need and put them in a binder.

• Read the title to find out what they claim to talk about.

So usually, the title has pretty much what they want to prove. It’s like their hypothesis but in a nutshell. For instance, this paper claims that regulating the phosphorylation of Akt can modulate the specificity of its substrates. That’s something to look out for while you read the paper. You don’t have to think too hard. Now the question is, how and why do they think that?

• Skim the abstract.

I personally don’t take too much time reading the abstract when I know for sure that I’ll read the paper. I just read it to give me a brief overview of what the paper is about. It’s like taking a dip in the pool to check the temperature before you dive in. I read the abstract to familiarize myself of the words that they’ll use often. Like here, they mention “endoplasmic reticulum stress”, “Akt” and “GRP78″, so I’ll make sure to know what these words are when I read the paper.

• The intro: what to look out for
• Skip the methods (for now!).

I do this 1) to save time, and 2) they sorta integrate the methods in describing the figures sometimes. I go back to the methods when I can’t visualize what’s going on in the figures. But once you finish reading, make sure you read their methods!

• Highlight the sentences where they refer to the figures.

They’re describing the figures, so this is where you take the time to flip back and forth and understand what they’re talking about. I like highlighting them to make it easier to find.

• Write the “bottom line” of each figure in your own words.

I think the best way to understand something is to be able to explain it in your own words. That’s why I like to summarize each figure in my own words. In this way it helps me remember better what the figures are about! This is where different colors of pens also come in handy! Mark the areas that are important. Also remember that you don’t need to focus on every single detail in the figure. There are these crucial areas where you need to mark that can already justify what the authors are talking about. I take all the time I need for this because my class requires a thorough understanding of the figures in the articles. My instructor calls on random people so I gotta be prepared! :P

• Don’t forget to read the figure captions! They can help clarify your figures.
• The dictionary is your friend! Look up the words you can’t understand and write them down in the article.
• Once you’ve gone over the figures thoroughly, you can read the discussion with ease because you know what they’re talking about! The discussion is basically a summary of the figures. They put them all together as a giant blob and try to make some huge conclusion out of it. They also talk about some significance, in order to show that there’s a reason why they think you should care about their findings. Keep an eye for that!

-note: while you read, whenever you see some big and important assumption and claim they say that is followed by references, circle those! These articles might be useful eventually.

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• Glance through your reading once - look at the titles, have a brief idea of the structure of it.
• Highlight your reading - colour coding is fundamental. It will help you to keep track of the structure and main point of the readings.
• Type an outline of the article - you may skip this part if you want, but if your exams syllabus include that reading, it will be very handy for you to have an outline so that you don’t have to go back and read the reading once again.
• Summarise the outline/reading on an index card - this is a way to show yourself that you have truly completed the reading. Have the very important information on index card will recall your memory regarding the reading, and the more index cards you got, the higher the motivation you will have to complete the readings since you can see tangible progress. It’s also a great way to review the information especially before/after lectures or before exams.

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How to read articles like an anthropology student in just 5 simple steps :

• Start by reading the introduction and the conclusion. Any good article should have them. The introduction will tell you about the subject and introduce the research question. The conclusion will answer that question. If you don’t have time to read the article, you could only follow this step and skip the other ones (although I do recommend reading the whole thing but let’s face it, sometimes articles are boring and binge-watching Netflix seems a lot more appealing). Don’t highlight anything, don’t take notes, just read and try to understand.
• Choose a highlighter, read the whole texte once and highlight words and expressions such as “First of all”, “Furthermore”, “In conclusion”, anything that marks a change of subject or introduces a new idea.
• Read the text a second time and summarize each paragraph in the right margin, in just a few key sentences.
• Now grab two different highlighters : one for important sentences, another for things you don’t understand. Read the texte one last time and write in the left margin : it can be additional info, links or references to other texts, questions you may have, definitions, etc.
• It’s now time to put everything together on a sheet of paper, the summary and all of the extra info you’ve gathered in the fourth step. Try colour coding and making it pretty, it will be nicer to read later on.