If you’re in a STEM field, chances are you’ll need to read primary literature - also known
as research articles.
And unlike books, effectively and efficiently reading a research paper requires a nuanced
and systematic approach.
When I first started reading research papers as a neuroscience major in college, it took
considerable effort and time to make sense of it all.
But since then, I’ve read through thousands of papers, published dozens of my own in peer
reviewed journals, and can now crank through them with ease.
Here’s the system I use.
Dr. Jubbal, MedSchoolInsiders.com.
First, Determine the Purpose of Reading. Depending on the purpose and your goal in
reading a research paper, your approach may differ considerably.
Keep that in mind as we cover the following sections.
If you’re reading a paper as a requirement for a class, like I initially had to for my
neuroscience courses, you will be focusing on comprehension rather than determining utility.
You’ll need to know the study hypothesis, the methods they used, the findings, and the
limitations of their conclusions.
As you proceed with your medical training, you will likely write many of your own research
articles.
After all, doing so is one of the most powerful ways to stand out and strengthen your medical
school or residency application.
In these instances, you are mostly referencing other research papers and it becomes more
important to quickly determine relevance and value prior to committing a more in depth
reading and analysis.
You will also use papers as tools to figure out other papers to read by taking advantage
of their own reference list.
Now that you’ve identified your primary goal, it’s time to begin reading.
Not every section in a research article is
created equal.
Unlike reading a traditional book, I don’t advise you read a research paper in order.
First, you should read the title and the abstract to get an overview of the paper.
If, at any time during your reading, you come across a word or acronym you don’t understand,
stop and look it up.
This is not like a novel where you can infer the meaning and likely not see the word again.
The language in research articles is generally pretty straightforward, and terms you don’t
understand are often the scientific terms that are critical to your understanding of
the paper and its findings.
Next, dive into the conclusion.
Again, this is a research paper, not a novel, so you’re not running into any spoilers.
The conclusion effectively summarizes the most pertinent findings.
Now that you have a better idea of what the paper is about, spend as much time as you
desire going over the figures, methods, results, and discussion sections.
The discussion will likely be the highest yield portion that requires the most amount
of time, but to truly understand the paper you must also go over the methods and results.
A big element to reading papers is understanding
the limitations of the study, which then allows you to more accurately determine the paper's significance.
The biggest and most widespread mistake is jumping to the conclusion and not understanding
the limitations and generalizability of a study.
Look at any media article summarizing “new ground breaking research” and you’ll see
what I mean.
Towards the end of the discussion section in most any paper, you’ll find the author’s
own interpretation of the limitations of their study.
But, there are always many more limitations beyond what they mention.
There have been entire books dedicated to the nuances of statistics and
extrapolating conclusions from the research, and this is something I may consider making
a dedicated future video on.
Let me know in the comments below so I can gauge interest.
Most people know about randomization, placebo-controlled, and single or double blinded studies.
That being said, there is so much more nuance to it.
Here are a few examples:
First, study design: is the study retrospective, meaning looking back historically, or prospective,
starting with individuals that are followed over time?
Is it case-control, cohort, or cross-sectional study?
Number two, what are the end points used?
If the study draws conclusions about heart disease and health but only uses HDL as a
surrogate marker, understand the surrogate is just that - an imperfect proxy.
Number three, Biases.
There are too many to cover, but selection, recall, sampling, confounding, procedure,
lead-time, and the Hawthorne effect are all biases you shou ld familiarize yourself with.
And number four, basic statistical analyses: sensitivity versus specificity, normal and skewed distributions,
positive and negative predictive values, etc.
Over time, you’ll be reading dozens or even
hundreds of research papers, and it becomes a challenge to keep everything straight.
Again, depending on the purpose, there are a few options to consider.
If you’re reading as a class assignment, I recommend you print out the paper, highlight,
and annotate in the margins as needed.
More recently, I have done this on an iPad with Apple pencil, such that printing out
was no longer necessary.
If, on the other hand, you’re reading in order to write your own paper, start using
a citation manager immediately from the beginning.
EndNote is often referenced as the rather expensive gold standard, but Mendeley is a
free and quite sufficient alternative.
As soon as you begin reading papers, import them into your citation manager.
In a separate Word document, begin jotting down the key points of the paper that are
relevant to your own project.
This notes document will now become the main resource from which you will begin writing
your own paper.
Trust me, it’s much better this way, otherwise you’ll spend considerable time and effort
hunting for facts from the dozens of PDF’s that you’ve read.
Lastly, understand that a big part of reading speed in both regular books as well as research papers
is your familiarity with the subject.
I started off reading neuroscience papers quite slowly, but as my expertise in the area grew,
I was able to breeze through them.
I knew the anatomy and terminology like the back of my hand, and coming across terms like
CA1 vs CA2 neurons of the hippocampus no longer required additional processing.
Similarly, when I first started diving into plastic surgery research, I didn’t know
all the nuances of hand anatomy or principles of aesthetic surgery.
But as I grew to understand more, reading and understanding the literature became second
nature, and once again I was able to breeze through them.
It’s important to keep this in mind to make sure you don’t get discouraged.
If you consistently apply yourself to reading research articles and follow the steps I’ve
outlined earlier, you’ll be tackling papers with ease in no time.
Like it or not, being proficient in research is an essential skill if you want to go to
a top medical school or residency program.
In a certain way, there’s a science but also an art to bolstering a solid research
CV and securing impressive letters of recommendation from your PI.
You can check out my own personal list of research articles, abstracts, and presentations
on my personal website at kevinjubbal.com.
It’s currently over 60 and counting.
Being proficient in research was a huge part of my own success getting into a top medical
school and a highly competitive residency.
It’s a challenging ordeal, and very few people know how to address this for maximal
effectiveness.
Through experimentation and uncommon techniques, I was able to pump out over 30 items in less
than 12 months and secure stellar letters of recommendation.
Visit MedSchoolInsiders.com to learn how our team of top advisors can help you master your
own research and present your best self in your application and interview.
I created this video because you guys requested it.
If you guys have any other requests for research related videos, let me know down in the comments
below.
If you made it this far, then there's a lot more content on my Instagram that you'll definitely enjoy. Check out @kevinjubbalmd
and @medschoolinsiders.
Thank you guys so much for watching, and I will see you all in that next one.