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.
