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Scholarly Resources for Engineering and Applied Sciences Graduate Students: Reading Literature

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Engineering, Science and Design Librarian

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This page demonstrates various reasons why and various strategies for how to read scholarly research papers, so you can develop efficient and effective reading strategies. It also introduces you to the anatomy of a scientific article so you know what to expect to read in each section. Finally, I recommend note taking strategies.

Why Read Literature?

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Educate Yourself

  • Understand the research currently being done in the field.
  • Understand what is known on this topic.
  • Learn why the research is important.
  • Learn what questions remain unanswered and thus what research remains to be done. 
  • Learn what methods have been used to explore the topic.

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Join the Conversation

  • Finding and reading literature is part of the research process. Science isn’t done in a vacuum, the contributions and critique of others are important.
  • Citing other's work establishes your credibility as a researcher.
  • You need to give credit to the work previously done. 
  • Your articles and presentations will need to have a literature review section so your readers can gain background understanding of your topic. 

Anatomy of a Scientific Article

How to Read Scholarly Papers

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More Guides to Reading Literature

While you Read...

Writing

For expertise and help with your writing, visit the CU Boulder Writing Center. Teaching writing is not part of my expertise.