A simple guide for reading scientific papers.

1. HOW TO A PAPER
Karim Elghanam
Faculty of Medicine, Menoufia University
k.elghanam@med.menofia.edu.eg
August 16, 2015

2. ENJOY

3. 3
Why
are you going to read a scientific
paper ??
How To Read A Paper

4. 4
What
is the type of the paper you are going
to read ??
How To Read A Paper

5. 5
Finally
HOW .. ?
How To Read A Paper

6. 6
 Why
 What
 How
How To Read A Paper

7. 7 How To Read A Paper
1. Why

8. 8
“ Enhancement of clinician skills not only to read
papers but to read the right paper at the right
time then to alter your behavior in the light of
what you have found! “
Prof. Trisha Greenhalgh
How To Read A Paper
1-My clinical skills

9. 9 How To Read A Paper
2- To be updated

10. 10 How To Read A Paper
3- Searching for ideas
Formulating my idea !!

11. 11 How To Read A Paper
4- I’m a researcher

12. 12 How To Read A Paper
1. Try to simulate this paper
2. Formulating my idea
3. Read some ethical consideration !
4. Reading his methodology
5. See his questionnaire.

13. 13 How To Read A Paper
6. Read the discussion
7. Get reference
8. Get Author’s contact
9. Know where to publish my paper
10. To write my paper
11. …etc

14. 14 How To Read A Paper
5- I’m doing a systematic review..!
Flow Chart
Inclusion & Exclusion criteria

15. 15 How To Read A Paper
5- I want to waste sometimes..! :D

16. 16
2. What
How To Read A Paper

17. 17
Types of Medical Research
How To Read A Paper Bernd Röhrig, et al.

18. 18
Types of papers
How To Read A Paper
Guidelines
Systematic reviews
RCT
Narrative reviews
Case series
Case reports
Questionnaire based studies

19. 19 How To Read A Paper
3. How

20. 20
Anatomy of scientific Paper
How To Read A Paper

21. Anatomy
of a Paper
21
I. Title
II. Authors
III. Abstract
IV. Introduction
V. Methodology
VI. Results
VII. Discussion
VIII. Conclusions
IX. References
X. Acknowledgements
XI. Conflict of interest
XII. Recommendations
XIII. limitations
How To Read A Paper

22. Introduction
22
General background
What is known
What is unknown
Aim of Paper
1
2
3
4
Cummins RO: Learning to write: Can books help?
J Med Educ 1981;56:128–132
Funnel..!
How To Read A Paper

23. Methodology
23
Description of;
what was needed to do this work ?
How it was done ?
Give you enough information to replicate the
study
How To Read A Paper

24. Methodology
24
• Population And Sample
Age
Sex
Number Of Patient
• Investigation
• Intervention
• Questionnaire description
• Study Design
• Ethical Approval
• Statistical Analysis
How To Read A Paper

25. Results
25
 Report his results
 Tables and graphs
 Statistical results
How To Read A Paper

26. Results
26
 No interpretation, No comparison.
 Reporting negative results ! (Don’t neglect this).
 Don’t depend on text alone or figures alone.
How To Read A Paper

27. 27
 Interpretation of major findings
 Explains how the findings relate to those of
others?
 Clinical relevance of the findings?
 Limitations and how this influenced the study?
Discussion
How To Read A Paper

28. Discussion
28
 How will the researcher overcome these in the
next studies?
 Explains the implications of findings
 What would be the next step in the study ?
How To Read A Paper
Horton R: The hidden research paper. JAMA 2002;2775_2778

29. 29 How To Read A Paper
Conflict of interest
 Fund
 Participation of specific authors

30. 30 How To Read A Paper
Contributions that do not justify authorship.
Technical help.
Financial and material support.
Acknowledgment

31. 31
Conclusion
 Shows that the of the author hypotheses has been
met or not !
 Drug A is more potent than drug B
How To Read A Paper

32. 32
Abstract
Summarizes the main points :
• Background(only hint)
• Objective/ Aim
• Study design, method
• Summarize the main results
• Principal conclusions, implications
How To Read A Paper

33. 33
Abstract
BUT
Depend and Not Depend on it !!
How To Read A Paper

34. Reference
34
Is Reference important to you to take a look on ?!!
How To Read A Paper

35. 35 How To Read A Paper
3. How

36. 36 How To Read A Paper

37. 37 How To Read A Paper
1- Learn to read critically:
Don’t just assume that a paper
in Science is correct…!

38. Read critically
38
1. Is the study question relevant?
2. Does the study add new knowledge?
3. What type of research question is being asked?
4. Was the study design appropriate to the
research question?
5. Was bias addressed?
How To Read A Paper

39. 39
6. Was the study performed according to the
original protocol?
7. Did the study test a stated hypothesis?
8. Were the statistical analyses performed
correctly?
9. Do the data justify the conclusions?
10. Are there conflicts of interest?
Read critically
How To Read A Paper

40. 40 How To Read A Paper
2- Learn to read Creatively::
 What are the good ideas in this paper?
 Do these ideas have other applications or extensions?
 Can the result make change in the further ?
 Are there possible improvements might make
important practical differences?
 Will you go to simulate this paper ??!!

41. 41 How To Read A Paper
3- Take notes !
Be sure that you will forget !
• Electronic notes
• Mendeley

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Then, Let’s start

43. 43 How To Read A Paper
What to Start with ??!!

44. 44 How To Read A Paper
why are you going to read this paper ?
What do you need from it ?

45. 45 How To Read A Paper
1- Take a look on;
Journal name
Author’s affiliation

46. 46 How To Read A Paper
2- Begin with introduction not ABSTRACT
To Take a good background
Aim of the paper ( Research Q. )

47. Research Question ( PICO )
47
• P: Population
• I: Intervention
• C: Comparison
• O: Outcome
How To Read A Paper

48. 48 How To Read A Paper
3- Methodology
 What are the authors going to do to answer
the specific question(s)?
 Concentrate on Details ( population, ethical
consideration, sample size, tools …. Etc.)

49. 49 How To Read A Paper
4- Results
1. The results are summarized in the figures and tables
BUT
It’s Not enough

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5- Discussion
You may need to do this or not

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6- Then Return to the Abstract !

52.  k.elghanam@med.menofia.edu.eg
 01068950053
 FB: Karim Elghanam
Contact Me52
Hope Happiness finds you when you don’t Expect to find it .