How many times on average do you read a research paper before you digest it?

Question

And when you're writing your own, do you find it a hassle to have to refer and then quote other authors at the end - is it normal having great difficulty doing this like you're lost in the vast vast ocean of space?

Is a solution reading and re-reading the article again and again? Any better tips?

Im referring to research articles - with the abstract, intro, discussion and results.

Answer 1

alright, so here goes. i use to go through at least a hundred of articles a week before shortlisting the ones i know that are suitable and are of high relevancy. frankly speaking ive lost count on the number of times i read the articles but noticed the papers breaking apart. coffee stains, ketchup smudges are normal. these articles to me, are the 'backbone' of my research. when reading an article its help a lot for you to be very specific and highly selective of the words and information that you come across with. for me, since i had hundreds to digest within a short time, 'scanning' keywords is the way to go around it. i wont 'read', unless, its the article i want to use.

within an article, it helps to have 'a filtering system' in your head. like me, i start by the title, and its abstract for the first glance (in astro, its like knowing the asc, sun sign and moon, lol). if the abstract seem to be interest, i would then only read the intro- only the first two paragraphs (infact, good quality articles would be concise and straight off tell you, by the first or last sentence within each of the first and second paragraphs, otherwise, it just comes to show the author was just playing with words for the 'cushioning' effect and its usually because they couldnt get the result they wanted.) and after the intro, id go straight to the conlusion. the conclusion should be telling you the outcome of the abstract. and all good conclusions only need one good sentence to tell it all, usually within the first two sentences. when i am further convinced with its conclusion, only then, id turn over the page to read the methodologies, results and discussion, if i find myself reading all these, the articles usually a keeper and on its way to its first coffee stain! lol.

i also have my own 'starring system' with 5 stars of the highest relevancy/ urgency to the 1 star, for keep in view/least important. when i quote, i immediately write the name or initials of the author or title at the bottom of the page or with the yellow stick it notes, when in hurry. that way, i wont forget my source of reference.

from one article to another, it helps a lot to determine the keywords of the title of your research and its other alternative/ synonyms-word by word. for example. the contingency(back up) of environmental (earth, surounding, ambient) policies(program, course of action) of third world (under developed, undeveloped) countries (nations, regions). once you have determined that, you can also check the author. usually, the author would write his/ her articles within the same level of relevance along the same line of this/ her professional field. maybe one article is writing about the 'implementation', while his/ her next one is addressing the 'analysis', and another about the 'discussion' of a particular issue.

overtime, you will be acquainted with the authors and his/ her co-author, co-researcher, etc, as when you go search deeper into the ocean, you would only find only a handful of experts handling a certain issue at a time, and by the time you get to that stage, depending on the popularity of your field, there's only one or two experts/ specialists/professors of that particular field. it might also be of your interest to know the authors sources reference, as he/she would only have a particular list of inidividuals he/ she would refer to. by then, the references you refer are refering back to the same sources of reference, you would know, you are in a 'pool' rather than a vast vast ocean. with this, you can determine, which 'pool' you need to be in, in order to complete your research.

and as for sorting and organizing your sources of references, use 'endnote'. if you have not heard of it yet, its a software where you can import/export lists of bibliographies and references from the interent to microsoft words documents, while sorting it out by author, title, year, etc. by many styles of sorting- harvard, etc, whenever you need to check back your references. and the best thing about it is that, you can just simply use for your own report, and dont need to retype it one by one. saves you a week to a month of aspirins and paracetamols!

hope this helps, good luck and all the best to you! =)

Answer 2

Yes...this sort of thing is difficult.  I think 2-3 times of reading to digest material is normal.

One thing that used to work for me when I was in college was to simply scribble down all my abstract thoughts about the topic, all over a piece of paper, in no order whatsoever, instead of starting out by trying to force all my ideas into the format of a formal research paper.  After I had all my ideas down, I would then try to organize them.  Once I had these ideas in order, it was easier for me to add more info -like quotes and such- here and there...then, viola...somehow I had a paper.

I hope this helps!  Good luck!

Answer 3

Personally I do not find it that difficult to cite the sources as I write. My starting point generally is the abstract. The abstract will summarize the article and from that I can decide how relevant it is. If reads as though it is not relevant I will put it to one side but not discard it completely Reason for this is I find as I do my third draft something from the article might be useful so it is saved. Anyhow if it reads as though it might be useful then I will begin to read it. My first read through is to determine if it is relevant to my paper and so the first read is some high-level, skimming. Once I have read it and felt it was usable I will read it again more thoroughly. During my second read through I will take notes on the article and I find if I take notes I retain more of it. Typically if I use the article I will have read through it at least four times. Another useful part of the article is the index or bibliography as it will lead you to more sources of information.

From what I have read on your posting it sounds as though you are reading things that are not of interest to you. For me I can read cases and law journal for hours without feeling like I am lost in the vast ocean of space. Maybe another field would be more interesting to you?