2 ms·
1. Read the abstract 2. Read the last paragraph of the intro 3. Read the first paragraph of the conclusion 4. Read any diagrams or figures 5. Inspect the ci
by forrestthewoods 3y ago
1. Read the abstract
2. Read the last paragraph of the intro
3. Read the first paragraph of the conclusion
4. Read any diagrams or figures
5. Inspect the citations
6. If all else fails, read the paper itself
- refurb 3y agoI pretty much do this, but I also read the "Methods" section after the conclusion. You'd be surprised how quickly you can filter out a paper based on how they actually collected the data. It's not uncommon for papers to use crappy methods at either sampling, or they use an unreliable method for measuring the key data point. Or they use the right method, but you can see they made a mistake in the process. At least in my field (biochemistry) I'd always look at the methods as a hard filter.