How to Approach Scientific and Scholarly Material

This week, Cheat Codes: A Sickle Cell Podcast released a two-part episode covering some highlights from the 2020 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting. The doctors and special guests do a great job at breaking down some of the novel research on Sickle Cell that was discussed at the congress and it got my wheels churning to make a post for those who are unfamiliar with how to approach scientific papers. That material is not always approachable so here are a few tips to help you find the important information.

When research is being conducted or concluded, it is then summarized in the form of Abstracts and Manuscripts. Abstracts are short, succinct summaries of the research that are all usually organized in the following way:

• Objective/Background = Why they decided to conduct the study.

• Design/Methods = What was the set up and who participated.

• Results = The outcome with data.

• Conclusion = What they discovered from doing the study.

These abstract summaries range from ~300-500 words and are meant to give the reader a general understanding of what the study is all about. Abstracts are usually readily available online for free and help to peak the interest in reading the full manuscript.

Manuscripts are where you can read all the detailed and often dense information about a study. The sections of a manuscript are slightly different from those of the abstract:

• Introduction

• Methods

• Results

• Discussion

• Conclusion

If you have access to the full manuscript, I recommended starting with the Introduction and then skipping to the Discussion and Conclusion. The Methods and Results sections can be tough to understand depending on how technical the study. I also recommend taking a look at the References that are cited in the manuscript as they can lead you to other informative papers.

Unfortunately, full manuscripts are not always easy to access. Many are only accessible behind a paywall from the journal which can range from a few dollars for limited time access to hundreds of dollars to buy the PDF outright. Websites such a PubMed and Google Scholar are great places to search, your library membership may grant you access to some online databases, but also pay attention to the author lists for contact information. Sometimes emailing an author directly and showing interest in their work can result in them emailing you a copy of the manuscript.