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BIOL:1411 Foundations of Biology Lab: Reading Scientific Papers

Guide content supports the teaching and research goals of multiple departments on campus. Content represents a non-exhaustive selection of essential resources and tools for engaging a wide range of backgrounds and viewpoints. 

The organizations of a scientific paper

Primary research articles are organized into sections: introduction, materials and methods, results, and discussion (called IMRD or IMRAD).

Identify key elements

You may need to read an article several times in order to gain an understanding of it, but you can start by identifying key elements in a quick survey before you read.

Can you find?

  • What was the purpose of the study? (in the introduction)
  • Was the hypothesis supported? (in the discussion)
  • What can you learn from the figures? Do you see trends? (in the results)
  • How might the results be used in the future? What comes next? (in the discussion/conclusion)
  • What were the limitations of the study? (in the discussion/conclusion)
  • How was the experiment conducted? (in the materials and methods)
  • How does this study build on previous research? (in the introduction)

Examples of key elements in a scientific paper

Annotated scientific paper
Figure shows article purpose
Image of results and discussion

CSE Name-Year Reference

The images above show a paper by Sanger and others (1977).

Reference

Sanger F, Nicklen S, Coulson AR. 1977. DNA sequencing with chain-terminating inhibitors. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. [accessed 2020 Aug 5];74(12):5463-5467. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/271968/