DISSECTING A RESEARCH PAPER

WHAT IS A PERIODICAL? Period: amount of time –Magazines (every week or month) –Newspapers (every day) –Journals (every month or season, sometimes yearly)

WHO DOES RESEARCH? University professors Companies Organizations Governments

DO THEY HAVE REASONS TO LIE? University professors Get more attention for themselves Companies Make research that helps the company Organizations Make research that helps the company Governments Make research that helps the government

DO THEY HAVE REASONS TO LIE? It’s easier to do “lazy” research that has mistakes Who is going to check your research?

EXAMPLE RESEARCH John has a carrot company. He wants to prove that his new chemical helps carrots grow. He needs proof, or proper RESEARCH, to prove that this is true.

EXAMPLE RESEARCH Proper research has many steps. John cannot just throw chemicals on the carrots and say they work – he needs to follow these steps!

EXAMPLE RESEARCH After he has finished his paper and shown his results, he needs to find a journal for them. He’ll submit his to the Journal of Agricultural Science (farming)

EXAMPLE RESEARCH BUT! Remember how many people have reasons to do poor research? Academic journals do not want bad information. Before they publish your paper, you need to go through the PEER REVIEW PROCESS. !

THE PEER REVIEW PROCESS When someone submits their research, they have to document (write down) everything they did. This way, if someone wants to do the same experiment to check that the results match, they can!

THE PEER REVIEW PROCESS When John submits his paper, it will be sent to other researchers in the same fields (agriculture or chemistry). These scientists will look at his paper and try to find mistakes.

THE PEER REVIEW PROCESS If they find mistakes, they will send the papers back to farmer John. John has to fix the mistakes and send them back to the researchers that found them.

THE PEER REVIEW PROCESS A paper can have many rough drafts through this process. After all his peers agree that there are no more mistakes, the journal can publish it.

YOU As a college student, you can’t just take information off of the internet. You need to use information from the reputable (trusted) journals, for 2 reasons.

YOU 1.Because they have this peer- review process, they’re less likely to be incorrect. 2.You’re taking information from the source, instead of from a book that quoted a website that quoted a news article that quoted a journal article.

THE PARTS OF A RESEARCH PAPER THIS PART’S REALLY USEFUL!

WHAT ARE THE PARTS? 1.Abstract 2.Introduction 3.Background 4.Methods 5.Data/Results 6.Discussion 7.Conclusion 8.Sources/Works Cited These parts will often have different titles, and sometimes they’re not there! There will also be extra sections, sometimes, but these are the main parts.

WHAT ARE THE PARTS? 1.Abstract This has a 1-2 sentence SUMMARY of most of the other parts. At the beginning of your research, you will normally read the abstract to decide if a paper will be useful.

WHAT ARE THE PARTS? 1.Abstract 2.Introduction The introduction is often the same as the background. When it’s different, it might explain what the topic is and its history.

WHAT ARE THE PARTS? 1.Abstract 2.Introduction 3.Background This discusses previous research. Where does the paper fit? How is it a new idea? How is it useful? Where and when is it useful? WHY is their research helpful?

WHAT ARE THE PARTS? 1.Abstract 2.Introduction 3.Background 4.Methods This section has everything you need to replicate (repeat) their experiment EXACTLY. You shouldn’t need to read this – it’s for their peers, not college students!

WHAT ARE THE PARTS? 1.Abstract 2.Introduction 3.Background 4.Methods 5.Data/Results This section usually has a lot of math and statistics. It will hurt your head to read this, but if you love this, you can! Normally, you don’t need to read this section if there’s part 6 or 7.

WHAT ARE THE PARTS? 1.Abstract 2.Introduction 3.Background 4.Methods 5.Data/Results 6.Discussion This is a great section! It explains their results for people who aren’t professional researchers!

WHAT ARE THE PARTS? 1.Abstract 2.Introduction 3.Background 4.Methods 5.Data/Results 6.Discussion 7.Conclusion This is not always available, but when it is, it often discusses what other research is needed in the future on this topic. This creates jobs for other scientists (or for themselves)

WHAT ARE THE PARTS? 1.Abstract 2.Introduction 3.Background 4.Methods 5.Data/Results 6.Discussion 7.Conclusion 8.Sources/Works Cited This section lists all of the OTHER research they talked about. It can be very useful, but we won’t talk about that now.

WHAT ARE THE PARTS? Right now, we’ll focus on reading the ABSTRACTS. When we have more time, we’ll read the full paper.