Field of Science

Rapidly Eyeball Abstract and Diagrams

R.E.A.D. = Rapidly Eyeball Abstract and Diagrams

"Did you read the paper by Østman et al. (2014)?"

"Yes, I READ it."

What does it mean to read a paper? How much of it must you have read to be able to say that you have read it? Every word, including acknowledgements and the list of references? Surely not. Probably what most people mean is that you understand the paper and know what the authors did. And to that end reading the abstract and the figures will often suffice - and free up some time for locating some free food (which is a skill I perfected as a grad student and researcher, because $50k per year was just not enough to live on).



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