Notes on a paper from the primary literature

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Your name

Date

Full bibliographic citation

Paper’s short citation (e.g., Suarez et al. 2019)

Glossary (typically 25-50 novel words, terms, & abbreviations)

alphabetize when done

Introduction

The Big Question

Specific question to be answered by this paper

Explain to your reader the background (s)he will need to understand the paper (assume your reader already has a biology background)

Think about what YOU needed to know to understand this paper

How much did you already know from your prior classes?

What did you have to look up to understand the paper?

Explanation of experiments (or of analyses if the paper is not experimental)

Expt. 1

Question addressed

Specific Aim of this expt. (what is to be learned)

Variables

Independent variable(s)

Dependent variable(s)

Hypothesis

Method used to collect data (brief)

Data expected if the hypothesis is true (likewise, if it’s not true)

Result(s) of the experiment

Interpretation of the result

How the result supports (or refutes) the hypothesis.

Expt. X (add more Experiment sections if needed)

Question addressed

Specific Aim of this expt. (what is to be learned)

Variables

Independent variable(s)

Dependent variable(s)

Hypothesis

Method used to collect data (brief)

Data expected if the hypothesis is true (likewise, if it’s not true)

Result

Interpretation of the result

How the result supports (or refutes) the hypothesis.

Ending

What was learned or not? (1-2 sentences)

What inquiries or applications were made possible by the findings of this study?

What would be the next logical study or inquiry?