Dr. Top School reads the literature like this!Nature sent a text to teach you to get rid of the thesis hoarding disease

Wen ｜ Meng Lingxiao

It is another year of school. For newcomers who have just joined the laboratory, this period is an important transition period for mastering the core literature of the field and determining the research direction.

However, from the beginning of downloading papers, it is either a key study in the field or the same article. I want to find an article recommended by the mentor at the group, but I can't think of keywords. Seeing the increasing universal papers on the computer desktop, there are very few people who really read it. The way of manually adjusting the reference format when writing a paper is still in the last century.

The inefficient literature management method greatly reduces the efficiency of the newcomers of scientific research.

In this regard, Maya Gosztyla, a doctoral student at the University of California San Diego, feels the same. She posted in Nature that in the past, she was accustomed to putting massive papers in browser bookmarks. As a result, both computers and brains collapsed. After a large number of trial error and repeated iteration of the literature reading tool, she finally found the modern literature management system that suits her best. The following is her self -report:

Maya Gosztyla Map Source: Personal Homepage

step 1

Look for

Previously, I always looked out a new paper. However, the irrelevant tweet always disperse my attention. I also registered the journal email reminder, but these emails quickly drowned the inbox, and I started to ignore them.

After a period of time, I found that the consulting aggregation platform may be a good choice, which can help you maintain the thesis information methodically. Every morning, I will browse the summary in five minutes. For most papers, I just look at the title and slide it. If I see anything interesting, I will add it to the "Reading later" folder.

If you want to learn more about specific themes, you can also try the literature mapping tools, such as Researchrabbit, Inciteful, Litmaps, and ConnectedPapers. These tools can track the reference network between papers, allowing you to master the most breakthrough papers in a certain field.

Step 2

manage

If you are still manually adjusting the format of the reference, then you definitely need to try the automatic generating system, which can save a considerable time. Tools such as ZOTERO, Mendeley or Endnote are not only easy to create a reference list, they can also use folders, keywords and labels in the database to store and organize your paper. These programs also have browser plug -ins. You can save the paper just a little bit, and also provide a text processor plug -in to add text references and build a reference work.

When I find a paper I want to read, I will immediately add it to my reference manager. Then I can turn off the browser label because I know it has been stored safely so that I can find it again.

Step 3

read

This is the most tricky part -you must read the dissertation. The key is to build a streamlined process. There are some suggestions here:

Including the schedule. For example, I will leave for several hours on Friday morning and read all the papers I collected within a week.

Formulate process. For example, I will first browse the paper quickly. If it is an interesting paper, I will read it carefully, highlight the focus, and summarize quickly.

Planning time. If you have a lot of papers to read, either plan a whole piece of time for centralized treatment, or start again after deleting all. Controlling the number of each reading paper can greatly reduce the occurrence of procrastination.

Reduce distraction. Read the paper in the PDF reader instead of reading in the browser label (tip: some reference data managers, such as Zotero, have built -in PDF readers, will automatically extract your high bright part into searchable text). Break the computer or tablet computer with Wi-Fi, and set the phone to "Do not disturb" state (if possible, place in another room).

enjoying the moment. Let reading a pleasure and make it look forward to it. I like to read on the sofa and put a cup of coffee around.

Step 4

organize

Once you develop good reading habits, you need to ensure that reading notes are methodical and easy to check.

I personally choose NOTION, which is a free format application for organizing various information such as notes, projects and tasks. I use it to manage everything related to graduate students. NOTION can also synchronize with my reference manager Zotero through a plugin called Notero. Whenever I add a new paper to Zotero, the plug -in will automatically synchronize to Notion.

If you are not familiar with NOTION, you also have a simpler choice -electronic tables can also complete this work. No matter which tool you choose, the key is to create a form and record all the papers you read in detail.

This should include the state of the paper (for example, have you read it) and which items it may be related to. Below is my table (at the end of the template address).

The template provided by the author

Each paper has a related page containing all my notes. If you are using an electronic meter, you can enter your notes online, or link each line to separate documents. Some reference management procedures, such as Zotero, can help you add comments directly to the reference. These records look strenuous, but an organization database can make literature review, fund application and other writing tasks easier. I can filter the forms through keywords or related projects to retrieve all the required information without re -reading.

Developing the habit and workflow of reading papers will definitely make me a better scientist. In a short time, I can read more content, and I often absorb experience from the paper and improve experimental design. When preparing for a doctoral scholarship application and candidate qualification examination, I used this method extensively. When I sat down and wrote my paper, I knew that I would like to thank the foresight today.

Template address:

https://dust-bovid-04d.notion.site/ba1BC5022A4D469ABD2EA559E80BC56B?v=a953E6BF2A3449AB3083154CE2B238

Reference materials:

https://www.nature.com/articleS/d41586-022-01878-7

https://mayagosztyla.wordpress.com/

Edit | Fangyuan

Capture | Zhihai

Cooperation: [email protected]

Submission: [email protected]

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