How to Read a Scientific Paper (Computational)

Question 1: Are the conclusions justified

1) Title – should give a clear indication of the content2) Abstract – presents a synopsis of the paper.

1) Why was the work undertaken?2) How was it performed?3) What was determined?

3) Conclusions – similar to abstract but may be more speculative1) Presents the “take-home message” for the paper

4) The rest of the paper

Order of Reading Operations

1) Introduction – Presents the background, the motivation and the current level of knowledge

2) Results – what was determined?3) Discussion – significance and interpretation of the

results4) Experimental/Methods – Details of the approach

1) Should be sufficiently detailed that someone with experience in the method could reproduce the work

Order of Reading Operations

Title and Introduction:What types of problems will likely have to be addressed in the paper?Is the Journal appropriate for the work? Is it reputable?

Abstract and Conclusions:What results support their claims? Have they overstated the significance?

Methods:Is it clear? Do you understand/trust the methods

Results/Discussion:Have the calculations been validated? If so, how? Is the validation appropriate?Are the simulations converged? How was water treated? Have they discussed all of the relevant issues or are they ignoring something important?

What to be Thinking