Academic publications

Scientific papers: choose them well, use them correctly

A paper is a primary source: it reports a research question, a method and results. That sets it apart from a textbook, which summarises a field, and from a review, which surveys many papers. Knowing the difference helps you decide what to read and what to cite.

Choosing papers

Read the abstract first. It tells you within a minute whether a paper fits your question. Then check the journal, the year, the citation count and whether the paper is available as open access. A citation count is a rough signal of influence, not of quality: Crossref publishes such counts, and they change over time. The choice of journal can also work as a research aid, because articles in a well-edited journal have usually been through peer review.

The role of a paper in your own work

Read the paper yourself before you cite it; do not rely on another author's summary. Record the bibliographic data while you research, not afterwards. Each source then involves three steps that must match:

• Content: what the paper actually claims.
• In-text citation: how you mark the claim in your text.
• Bibliography entry: the full reference at the end.

For the formal rules, see how to cite, APA 7, citation styles and bibliography.