Research-informed practice: How to read an academic paper
Written By: Author(s): Gary Jones and Deborah Netolicky
2 min read
What's the idea?
While reading academic papers can feel like hard work, there are a few basic techniques that can make it much easier.
What does it mean?
When reading an academic paper it helps to try and answer these five questions (and always keep them in mind):
Why am I reading this?
What are the authors trying to achieve?
What are the authors’ conclusions and how are they relevant to my work?
How convincing are the author’s conclusions, and why?
What use can I make of this? (Wallace and Wray, 2016)
What are the implications for teachers?
Rather than reading the paper from start to finish, we suggest you look at the different sections and decide whether you want to read on.
Read the title. Do you have a good idea of what the paper is about, or is it unclear?
Read the abstract. This should tell you in more detail what the paper is about, what method was used and what the findings were. This is great for giving you an overall sense of the research.
You may decide
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This article was published in May 2019 and reflects the terminology and understanding of research and evidence in use at the time. Some terms and conclusions may no longer align with current standards. We encourage readers to approach the content with an understanding of this context.
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