More about the best way to read scholarly articles

If the student asks us:

Is there some way to know even before reading an abstract if a research article is important for me to read?

We may explain:

One way is to look at the byline of the article, which will tell us who the authors are. If our ajarns have mentioned the names of these researchers in class, chances are that they are important enough to be worthwhile to read.

The student will object:

But my ajarn never mentioned this researcher. How can I tell if the article is good?

Our answer would be:

Another way would be to look at the name of the university or other research institution that is listed after the name of the author of the article. If it is a well-known place that produces lots of important research in our field, then again the article should be worth looking at.

If we have never heard of the research institution that the author is affiliated with, or do not know much about it, it is possible that the researcher may not be objective enough. The TU Library owns the book Freakonomics which features some examples of bad research. If we get an idea of what bad research looks like, then we can keep an eye out for it, and better separate it from serious, useful research. Another aspect pointing to the value of the article is where it was published. Did it appear in an important professional journal which the student’s ajarn may have mentioned in class? If the article was published in a journal the student has never heard of, it may not be worthwhile. Also, when the article was published can be useful information, since if the data it provides is outdated, it may be worth looking for more recent publications in the same field. Finally, does the bibliography look like the writers know a lot about their field? Have they based their work on a lot of previously published research? If not, it may not be worth reading their conclusions, which may only be based on an incomplete view of the field of research.

Look for something else.

If the student is not sure about the value of an article, it may be a good policy to follow that instinct. There is no point in sticking with one article if we are not sure of its importance. There are so many articles of potential use that there is never any problem in finding other publications. To cite only one field of research, PubMed, a free search engine accessing primarily the MEDLINE database of references and abstracts on life sciences and biomedical topics, lists over 1300 separate journals about dentistry. So if one article or journal does not interest us, we should not worry, but move along quickly and happily to another.

The student may ask us:

Can I tell from the title alone whether an article will be useful for my research?

The reply would be:

If the title is full and informative, telling the reader about the subject of the research and what has been described in the paper, then it can sometimes tell us whether we need to read it or not.

If the student asks for further hints about how to tell quickly if an article is serious or not, we may inform them:

In Thai English, researchers sometimes misuse the term case study. In international terms, an academic case study usually goes on for an extended time. An academic case study may last from three to six months, or even several years. If students gather research for a few days and call the results a case study, this may not be serious research.

If we note that the title of a research paper promises a case study, but the abstract informs us that the research was only conducted for a few days, then clearly the research has not been as extensive as international standards might expect. When this happens, we may just decide to look for other research in the same field which conforms better to international standards.

(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)