Goals：
To introduce astronomy & astrophysics majors to the experience of thoughtfully reading real scientific papers, and to help them to do so effectively and efficiently. 

Language, preparation and reading： There is no set textbook. However, this is a course which will be taught in English, and where students will be expected to read real research papers written in English. It is not a course designed to formally teach English language skills. Hence students are advised to prepare by revising their English language familiarity, if necessary.

Description:

One of the important transitions in becoming a researcher is moving from reading textbooks to reading papers.    Textbooks can normally be trusted to be explaining facts about which most people agree, whilst research papers normally can’t.  If papers were just stating facts on which everybody had already decided, then they wouldn’t be saying anything new.  

Even if the authors of a particular paper are extremely intelligent and careful, they might still have made a mistake.  Nobody is perfect.  Alternatively, if their paper is correct, they might not have noticed a further new implication or application of their result.  If two papers reach opposing conclusions, how do you decide whether either of them might be correct, and how do you look for the weak points in their arguments? 

So it is important to learn to read thoughtfully and critically. 

It is also important to learn to read efficiently.  There are too many papers to read every word of all papers that might be relevant to your research, so how do you decide which ones are worth investing more effort in understanding carefully?  The ability to quickly identify the main claims and arguments in a paper saves a great deal of time.   The class will also encourage students to develop strategies for efficiently summarising and recording what they have read.

Reading scientific papers is also good preparation for writing scientific papers.  Learning to communicate results clearly and concisely is a vital skill.  It is usually not enough to make an interesting discovery if you can’t communicate it well.  So the class will also study when papers do things which promote clear communication, and when papers do things which are unhelpful or imprecise.


Format:

This course will mainly be taught by practical example.  Students will be expected to critically read both classic and modern papers in astronomy/astrophysics, both inside and outside class, with in-class discussions of the strengths and weaknesses of the relevant papers.   Students will also be asked to prepare more formal written and oral reports.

The classes are intended to be highly interactive, and the pace will be determined by the ability of the group. 


Schedule:

(Expected distribution of time, assuming two hours per class.)  

Introduction, and course aims. Different literature formats, using ADS and the arXiv (half a class).
Strategies for reading papers efficiently, and what questions to ask (half a class). 
Early classic papers (two classes).
More modern outstanding papers (two classes).
Reading current literature, both good and bad (four classes). 
Exam (one class).

Throughout the course we will also aim to develop clear communication skills, and thoughtful reflection on which communication tactics work well.