Why Are Academic Journals So Hard To Read?

Scientific papers are hard to read because they contain:

High density of information

.

Multi-syllable words

.

Scientific jargons for a particular field of study

.

Why do scholarly research reports seem difficult to read?

From obscure acronyms to unnecessary jargon, research papers are increasingly

impenetrable

– even for scientists. Science is becoming more difficult to understand due to the sheer number of acronyms, long sentences, and impenetrable jargon in academic writing.

How do you read academic journals fast?

1. Skim the abstract. Skimming the abstract first will allow you to get somewhat familiar with the topic at hand. …
2. Read the conclusion. …
3. After the conclusion, read the results. …
4. Read the methods section. …
5. Start this process over again with a different paper.

Does anyone read academic journals?

According to one estimate,

only 20 per cent of papers cited have actually been read

. We estimate that an average paper in a peer-reviewed journal is read completely by no more than 10 people. Hence, impacts of most peer-reviewed publications even within the scientific community are minuscule.

Why is academic reading so boring?

Academic

writing is always boring, dry, formulaic, and unnecessarily complex

. … The writing is meant to not get in the way by making these ideas less clear or harder to assimilate. Some readers don’t like this, as a matter of taste (it seems dry or formulaic), but in the academy it is inescapable.

Why are academic articles so long?

Because each

is required to be a stand-alone work

, it will completely review the relevant literature, define all the terms, and place in very clear context the scope and significance of their research. There are usually even tables and figures for extra clarity.

Why is academic English hard?

However, the main difficulty for academic English lies with the

specialized vocabulary

often found in lectures and academic publications. Vocabulary in academic English is not only complex, but also very specific to each individual discipline (area of study).

How long should it take to read an academic article?

Do plan to spend anywhere from

3–6 hours

to really digest a paper, remember they are very dense! Be ready and willing to make several passes through the paper, each time looking to extract different information and understanding. And please, do yourself a favor and do not read the paper front to end on your first pass.

How do you effectively read a scientific paper?

1. Step 1: Read the Abstract. The abstract will give you an overview of the key points of the paper. …
2. Step 2: Skip the Introduction. …
3. Step 3: Scan the Methods. …
4. Step 4: Focus on the Figures. …
5. Step 5: Tackle the discussion. …
6. Step 6: File it Away.

How do you critically read a journal article?

Get that information by reading the title, abstract, and headings and by skimming the introduction, the conclusion (or discussion), and any tables or figures. Look for

definitions

: Jargon is usually defined somewhere in the article, at least by subtle context if not explicitly.

How many papers are never cited?

“

90% of papers published in academic journals are never cited

.” This damning statistic from a 2007 overview of citation analysis recently darted about cyberspace. A similar statistic had made the rounds in 2010 but that time it was about 60% of social and natural science articles that were said to be uncited.

How do academics read so much?

Academic papers are written in a way that makes them ‘unpack-able’ so that you can read the introduction and leave it there with a high-level view of what it’s trying to communicate, or read on to get the details in the body of the paper.

Who reads academic journals?

How academic writing will make you a stronger student?

Academic writing serves as a tool of communication that conveys acquired knowledge in a specific field of study. Writing academically will help students analyse,

convey understanding

, think critically and focus on technique and style.

What makes academic writing strong?

Academic writing is clear, concise, focussed, structured and backed up by evidence. Its purpose is

to aid the reader’s understanding

. It has a formal tone and style, but it is not complex and does not require the use of long sentences and complicated vocabulary.

How do you write like an academic?

1. Use ACTIVE VOICE. …
2. Mix it up in terms of PUNCTUATION. …
3. Vary your SENTENCE STRUCTURE. …
4. Closely related to this, avoid CHOPPINESS. …
5. Avoid REPETITION.
6. Be CONCISE.
7. Use the VOCABULARY that you know.
8. But also work on expanding your VOCABULARY.

What makes an article difficult to read?

Scientific papers

are hard to read because they contain: High density of information. Multi-syllable words. Scientific jargons for a particular field of study.

What causes poor language proficiency?

Inadequate classroom conditions (too many students in a class)

Lack of motivation

.

Poor quality teaching

.

Poor quality materials

.

Why is it so hard to find academic sources?

Why does this happen, you ask? Usually the answer comes down to money:

journal subscriptions are extremely expensive

. Even though you may be able to see a journal in many different databases, libraries usually only pay for one provider to give full-text access.

How difficult is academic writing?

And that’s the truth –

academic writing is incredibly difficult

. Anyone who seems able to dive into a manuscript without anxiety, stress-eating, procrasti-cleaning, or hand wringing is either lying or a survivor of an earlier, stress-ridden period in their writing lives that you missed seeing.

What is the most difficult part of learning English?

• Sentence structure. The big red dog NOT the red big dog. …
• Phrasal verbs. How do you feel about phrasal verbs? …
• Vowels. Vowels. …
• Latent letters. Moved to the states when I was 7 years old. …
• Exceptions. …
• Pronunciation. …
• Idioms. …
• Homonyms.

Is English difficult for foreigners?

No foreign language is easy to learn unless they are very similar with same grammar rules like Hindi and Urdu.

English is specially difficult

because so many different rules for making plurals,changing present verbs to past verbs,different pronunciation of same letter in different words etc.

How long does it take to read a 15 page journal article?

Answer: 15 pages will take

about 25 minutes

to read for the average reader.

How long does it take to read a 20 page journal?

Answer: 20 pages will take

about 33.3 minutes

to read for the average reader.

How long does it take to read a 20 page paper?

Answer: the average reader takes

about 33.3 minutes

to read 20 pages.

Where can I read academic papers?

• CORE. CORE is a multidisciplinary aggregator of open access research. …
• ScienceOpen. …
• Directory of Open Access Journals. …
• Education Resources Information Center. …
• arXiv e-Print Archive. …
• Social Science Research Network. …
• Public Library of Science. …
• OpenDOAR.

Is it necessary to read the title of a journal article Why do you say so?

The title of your manuscript is usually the first introduction readers have to your published work. Therefore, you

must select a title that grabs attention

, accurately describes the contents of your manuscript, and makes people want to read further.

Why do professors write papers?

As an academic, I have to do a lot of writing. Writing is

the main way researchers communicate their work and raise money

. … There’s a hit-or-miss tutelage to academic writing that involves advisors, previous papers, and a smarting peer-review system.

How many academic journals exist?

No one knows how many scientific journals there are, but several estimates point to

around 30,000

, with close to two million articles published each year.

How long does it take to read a newspaper?

Most important pages to focus on in a newspaper are – editorial (the one page which if you can get through it completely is going to take

about 1- 2 hour

, depending on the newspaper you are reading, and is going to make you informed about so many things going on nationally and internationally), international news page, …

Why is reading a research paper important?

It usually highlights the main objective of the author(s)’ research,

provides the key results of their experiments

, and gives an overview of the their conclusions. Reading the abstract will help you decide if the article was what you were looking for, without spending a long time reading the entire paper.

Why do professors write articles?

Journal articles are

written for other academics as a way of flexing muscles

. It’s not how meaningful your work is, but just how bulky your cv looks. … It’s hard to spend so much time writing papers that have such little benefit beyond my own vita.

What is the most cited paper of all time?

The most-cited paper in history is

a paper by Oliver Lowry describing an assay to measure the concentration of proteins

. By 2014 it had accumulated more than 305,000 citations.

How many citations is good for a paper?

What is a good number of citations? With

10 or more citations

, your work is now in the top 24% of the most cited work worldwide; this increased to the top 1.8% as you reach 100 or more citations. Main take home message: the average citation per manuscript is clearly below 10!

Can a paper get many reads with only few citations?

Many reads but

no citation

It depends on the interest of the Researchers. If paper is related to someone’s Research area and some important work has been done, then you can get citations.

How do professors read so fast?

Professors also

scan papers to finish reading

them quickly. A type of scanning mostly used is the ladder reading. The professor reads the abstract, conclusion, and the first line of every paragraph. This will guide the professor on whether he needs to continue reading the paper or not.

How fast do professors read?

Average college professor =

675

. Speed readers = 1,500. World speed reading champion = 4,700. Average adult: 300 wpm.

Does speed reading lower comprehension?

Effective speed reading is a balance between pace and comprehension. Studies have found that the faster you read, the less information you take in, particularly when it comes to remembering detail. … Anything above 500

–

600 wpm means sacrificing comprehension, although this varies from person to person.

What are the disadvantages of academic writing?

• Academic writing has an unpredictable schedule, clients might suddenly want urgent changes.
• Sometimes a client may argue you are wrong and disagree with you when you know you are right.

Is excessive repetition good or bad in academic writing?

Repetition in writing or speech

is undesirable if the audience

is an educated class. Too much repetition in the wrong way is going to drive your readers crazy, but just the right touch of it can help hone that emotional moment you were going for.

What is the most significant factor of academic writing?

• Audience: Considering your audience is something you should do before writing your paper. …
• Purpose: Audience and purpose are interconnected. …
• Organization: Organization is a matter of priorities and structure. …
• Style: …
• Flow: …
• Presentation: …
• Reference.