Reading a research paper

The IMRAD structure, the abstract, peer review and levels of evidence.

The outline, topic by topic

Each topic is weighted the way the exam weighs it.

IMRAD: what is it?
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A paper's structure: Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion.
It lets one find each piece of information fast.
You want to know in two minutes whether a paper answers your question. What do you read?
- The abstract
- The methods
- The references
- The acknowledgements
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The abstract
The abstract condenses the whole paper.
Abstract: what is it?
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A short text giving the paper's aim, method, results and conclusion.
One reads it first to decide whether the paper is useful.
Why can a published paper still be wrong?
- Peer review only happens after publication, never before
- Peer review filters but does not rerun the experiment
- Reviewers have no access to the paper's methods
- Journals publish every paper submitted to them
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Peer review filters but does not rerun the experiment
Reviewers judge the manuscript without rerunning the experiment: an error, a bias or a fluke can get through. Replication by other teams is what consolidates a result.