Reading and Summarizing Articles and Reports

Before you start

  • Doing it right will take more time than you think!

  • AI summaries miss technical context and important points

Basic Structure

Scientific articles mostly follow this structure:

  • Abstract
  • Introduction
  • Methods
  • Results
  • Conclusions/Discussion
  • References
  • Appendices/Supplementary Information

Basic Structure

Scientific articles mostly follow this structure:

Abstract Very technical and concise
Introduction Definitions and context, motivation
Methods Data collection, some statistics
Results Interpretation/significance tests
Discussion/ Conclusion What does it mean? Why does it matter?
References What work is this related to? How well established are the methods?
Supplement Code, data, stuff reviewers wanted, things that didn’t fit page limit…

Basic Structure

Technical reports have a more varied structure:

  • Executive Summary

  • Contents

  • Introduction

  • Body - broken into sections

  • Conclusions

  • References/Bibliography

  • Appendices

Basic Structure

Technical reports have a more varied structure:

  • Executive Summary (for dummies)

  • Contents preview of what you’re in for

  • Introduction

  • Body - broken into sections

  • Conclusions

  • References/Bibliography

  • Appendices technical documentation, related documents, stuff to bury so management doesn’t see it CYA

Strategy 1: Spoilers!

Strategy 1: 🫣 Spoilers!

First Pass

  • Read the title

  • Read the conclusion

    • Assemble a couple of questions to focus your reading

  • Skim the methods

  • Skim the results

Can you answer your assembled questions?

Strategy 1: 🫣 Spoilers!

Think a bit

What do you not understand (yet)?

  • Vocabulary? Google/Dictionary/Reference book

  • How they came to the conclusion?

    • Read the paper again, in order this time

  • Why this topic is interesting?

    • Read the introduction… (if this doesn’t help, just accept that it’s interesting to someone)

Strategy 1: 🫣 Spoilers!

Read it again

  • 🔝 In order, this time

  • 🎶️ Margin notes - ask questions (for you or the author)!

  • Liberally comment

    • ⁉️/🔥/🤡/🤯/🪿
    • “this is cool/dumb/nonsenscical”
    • WTF

  • ✏️ Highlight/underline key points, definitions that are new to you
    highlighting everything doesn’t work that well - be selective!

Strategy 1: 🫣 Spoilers!

✅ Check your understanding

  • Abstract - teaser for the full paper

    • Highlights important points (most of the time)
    • Highlights motivation (some of the time)
    • Presents key results

    Make sure you understand at least what the abstract covers

  • Conclusion

    • Do you understand how/why the authors came to their conclusions?

    • How does this paper fit into the wider field?

Strategy 2: Outline/Sketch

  • Read the introduction (NOT the abstract)

    • Identify the big question

    • Summarize the background in <5 sentences

Strategy 2: Outline/Sketch

  • Read the methods

    • Identify the specific question(s)

    • Identify the approach

    • Draw a diagram (for experiments) showing process/methods

Strategy 2: Outline/Sketch

  • Read the results

    • Summarize results for each experiment

    • Do results answer the specific question(s)?

  • Read the conclusion/discussion

    • What contribution does this make?

    • What follow-up experiments are necessary?

Strategy 2: Outline/Sketch

  • Read the abstract

  • What do other researchers say about this paper?

    • Look for citations to the paper that are relatively close in time
    • Locate where the paper was cited
    • See if opinions are offered

Evaluating the paper

Other Details

  • Authors, institutional affiliations

    • are there likely biases here?

  • Journal

Technical/Business Reports

  • Look at charts/pictures

  • Read conclusions

  • Look at tables

  • Read the report

  • Read the executive summary

    • 🎭🦙: Compare/contrast with the rest of the report

Writing a Summary

  • State the motivation/research question

    • Why is this interesting/important?

  • What hypotheses were tested? What solutions were considered?

  • What methods/experimental designs were used?

  • What were the results? Significance?

  • Why does it matter? What is the implication?

    • Don’t overstate
    • Include caveats if applicable

Revising a Summary

  • Read your summary out loud (or have the computer read it to you)

    • Is anything not logically clear?
      • Listen for “non sequiturs” (it does not follow) and missing sentences
    • Grammar/clarity check

  • Re-read/skim the article again

  • Read your summary after you revisit the article

    • Did you cover all of the important points?

    • What assumptions did you make about your audience?

Summary Style Guide

  • Eliminate wordiness
    extra adverbs (“clearly”, “very”, “mostly”) and weasel words should go

  • Use specific language
    “this experiment illustrates” instead of “this illustrates”

  • Accurate language
    “fail to reject” instead of “support for the null”

  • Don’t use direct quotes – summaries are more concise than the original

Ask yourself “Do I need this word?”