A few times over this semester you will be asked to write a
summary of one experiment from one research article. At first, this
will not be an easy task -- far from it!
Then why do it?
Research articles are the source of scientific
truth, but they are exhausting to read,... if you're intent is to understand
everything they contain. On the other hand, the task becomes easier if you
learn how to extract just what you need from an article to
answer your specific question. What you need is a result that addresses
your question and an understanding of how that result was obtained. Without
the result, you have just a claim with no basis. Without the method, you
have no limit on the reach of the result.
Writing summaries trains you to read articles in this way, to focus on
what you need. Each summary you write makes the next one easier, until you
are able to write summaries in your head as you read the article. In short,
learning how to write a focused summary is learning how to read a research
article.
Which article? Which experiment?
- You are seeking a research article
(not news, not review), one of interest to you, possibly related to your proposal.
- A research article can be recognized by its presentation of
actual experimental results (not merely conclusions)
and a description of the methods used to obtain them,
sufficient to enable someone else to replicate the experiment.
If you can't identify both, you haven't found a research article.
- Find one or more using previously described
search strategies.
- Your life will be easier if you choose an experiment that is relatively
self-contained, one
that can be described without needing to slog through other experiments in
the article.
What if I don't understand half of the experiment?
Don't panic! Focus on the other half, and ask what, if anything is missing from the story
you are trying to tell. If you are stumped by a technique used in the article (and this may be
a common experience), first ask yourself if you need to understand this technique in order to
tell your story. If not, then forget about it. But if you judge the
technique to be essential for your understanding (and your reader's understanding) of the experiment
you've chosen, then do whatever is necessary to gain the insight you need. Hit the web. Read another
article. Talk with your colleagues. Talk with me. Whatever it takes.
How do I write a summary of a research article?
Your summary should be written aimed at an audience of your peers, students like yourself except
without the benefit of having experienced this course. It should consist of a few well organized short
paragraphs that address the following:
- Introduction of problem
What is the big picture surrounding the experiment? How is that area of general interest
logically connected to the question addressed by experiment? What hole existed in our knowledge
before the experiment was performed?
- Description of experiment
Describe how one experiment was performed in sufficient detail that the reader will
thoroughly understand the principle. There is no value, however, in providing detail that is
useful only in replicating the experiment (e.g. the composition of a buffer, etc). Avoid terms
that will be unfamiliar to the reader, or if they're useful, then define them.
- Result of experiment
Describe what was observed, not the authors' conclusion based on that observation. A figure from
the article may be helpful. If you use one, don't be afraid to relabel it to be more easily
understood by the reader.
- Observations and connections
What insight can be drawn from the experimental result? Does it answer the question? Does it have
higher implications? It may or may not be useful to briefly relate other results from the paper,
but do this only to the extent they illuminate the experiment you've chosen to present.
What NOT to do?
- Don't paraphrase. You might think that paraphrasing is a reasonable
strategy. "After all," you might say,
"the authors know what they are talking about and I do not." That may be true
at the moment, but confusion
is a temporary condition and only you can tell your story to your audience.
The authors have a much
larger story to a much different audience. It's just as likely that you can
piece together a coherent and
pertinent story from theirs as you could piece together a hummingbird from
an F16.
How to avoid paraphrasing? Easy. Put the paper down and walk away
from it. Say what you're trying to say. If you can't, identify why you can't
and fix the problem. Then walk away and try agin. Finally, write down what you
said. Go back later to fix the parts that sound funny.
- Don't quote. This isn't a literary analysis. Quotations are almost
never used in scientific writing, because it is generally the content, not
the phrasing, that's important. Just give us what you want to say in your
own words. But what if you don't understand the content...?
- Don't pass your ignorance on to your reader. If you don't
understand what the authors are saying, neither will we. Find a way to
avoid a topic you're confused by, or if there's no way around it,
do whatever is necessary to gain insight.
- Don't merely recite conclusions. Interpretation is fine, but
only after you've given us the facts of the matter, the results.
What was the actual data?
- Don't forget your audience. Your audience is people like yourself.
I am not your audience. Always ask yourself whether you would have understood
last year what you are writing.
Examples
- Here is an example of a good summary.
- Here is an example of a bad summary.
- And here's one in between (though not just right).
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