Resources

This is a page of resources that may (will) help you in your work for this and other courses. I will add to this over the course of the semester.

Reading science

Reading science is different than reading other forms of literature. The purpose of science writing is to communicate the results of empirical studies such that they can be used to support new science and future studies. Science is incremental. It builds on past work, allowing what we know, collectively, to grow and change over time.

The guides below will help you to read and evaluate science writing for the purposes of this class and other classes you will take.

Rapid reading, extraction of salient features, and note-taking for science articles

Differences in epistemology and approach

It's important to understand the limitations of our approaches to research. Often these limitations can be expressed through epistemology. It also helps to consider how our methods are related to our worldview. Our reading of research is also similarly affected. This guide helps to distinguish between qualitative and quantitative research. It also may help to understand the parallels between the two.

Guide to reading research - USC Evidence Based Decision Making

Thinking better

Cognitive bias cheat sheet: Because thinking is hard - Buster Benson

Literature review

The purpose of literature review is to understand the state-of-the-art and history of a given topic. Literature review can be variously applied depending on the need.

The following guides might help you in scoping and conducting your literature review.

Pautasso, M. (2013). Ten simple rules for writing a literature review. PLoS Computational Biology, 9(7), e1003149. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1003149

This is probably the most succinct, straightforward, and complete guide I have come across:

How to do a literature review: Citation tracing, concept saturation and results’ mind-mapping - Raul Pacheco-Vega

How to... Write a Literature Review - Emerald Publishing

Concept matrices

Writing a Literature Review and Using a Synthesis Matrix - FIU

Literature reviews: Using a matrix to organize research - The Writing Center at Saint Mary's University of Minnesota

The following article is a particularly good resource for understanding and structuring literature review.

Lubbe, S., Klopper, R., & Rugbeer, H. (2007). The matrix method of literature review. Alternation, 14(1). Retrieved from http://umkn-dsp01.unisa.ac.za/handle/10500/3002

Resources -