The scientific reading refers to a very specific type of reading used in research. It is not limited to scientific issues, but to the set of factors and processes that a reader does to perform a critical reading of a specialized text.

It is a much deeper reading that needs the prior knowledge of the reader, since through it not only does one learn but also reflects, analyzes and even adds information.

Scientific or critical reading is a prior and mandatory step to access new knowledge, understand it and later develop a scientific text with conclusions generated by reading.

Where does scientific reading exist?

This type of reading is common in universities, higher education institutions, research institutes and the like, in which scientific texts or articles are usually submitted to the consideration of colleagues before being released.

It is necessary to indicate that in this sense, both scientific articles and their reading are not reduced to topics such as engineering, biology, chemistry, etc., but rather cover all categories of knowledge, from literature and philosophy to business administration , law or medicine.

What is required on the part of the reader is prior knowledge that makes him capable of detecting whether the information contained is true or, in any case, that allows him to discern and generate new ideas from the reading.

We could summarize the concept by saying that scientific reading is what is used to study, reflect and investigate.

Characteristics of scientific reading

This type of reading involves a process similar to that which takes place in the writing of specialized texts: if the texts must be objective, clear, verifiable and precise, scientific reading must be attentive, slow and subject to reflection.

Prior knowledge

It is obvious that the reader must have a minimum of prior knowledge before starting a scientific reading, otherwise the communicative intention is not established. The specialized text needs a reader capable of understanding the concepts that are offered.

Attentive and slow reading

This means that constant attention to the text must prevail in the reading process, applying methods such as the preparation of summaries or thematic cards for a better understanding of it.

Read and compare

In scientific reading, it is usual to make comparative studies of texts whose purpose is the same but in which the arguments used lead them to reach radically different conclusions.

In these cases, a scientific reading achieves a reflective basis to obtain knowledge and to deepen it. When two scientific studies with different results are compared, it is common for the reader to build their own and original concept, thanks to the mental process of interaction between thought and language.

Importance of scientific reading

The importance of scientific reading resides in the ability it gives the reader to be able to differentiate concepts rigorously, reflect on a specific topic and generate new knowledge from the text read.

It is essential for university students (and in general, for anyone who wants to delve into a topic), for teachers, researchers and scientists of all fields, because with a reading of this type the critical spirit of the reader is developed.

It teaches how to think, since one of its objectives is precisely to learn, through attentive reading, to break down a text, to analyze it from different points of view, which, in practical terms, means that the reader believes or a reflective space is made possible in which to develop new ideas or knowledge.

It also serves as a tool for professional updating.

Examples of scientific reading

Example 1: circulatory system (biology)

“The circulatory system or circulatory  system  is the anatomical structure made up of the cardiovascular system that conducts and circulates the blood, and the lymphatic system that conducts the lymph unidirectionally towards the heart.

In humans, the cardiovascular system is made up of the heart, blood vessels (arteries, veins, and capillaries) and blood, and the lymphatic system, which is made up of lymphatic vessels, nodes, lymphatic organs (spleen and the thymus), the bone marrow and lymphatic tissues (such as the amygdala and Pever’s patches) and the lymph ”.

Example 2: Dark matter (physics)

“The microscopic composition of dark matter and the direct or indirect observation of its presence, beyond its gravitational effects, represents one of the most urgent problems facing Particle Physics, Astrophysics and Cosmology.

Experimental searches of various kinds have been carried out for several years, without any conclusive results. All the evidence indicates that the microscopic constituents of dark matter cannot belong to the particle spectrum of the Standard Model ”.

Example 3: Gradual ontology of existence (philosophy)

“Succinctly, and without eagerness to be exact, the main argument proceeds in favor of degrees of reality or existence: 1) in reality there are fuzzy properties and sets, ee, which are given by degrees; 2) extractionism: the degrees of possession or belonging correspond to two degrees of truth; 3) definition of truth: the fact that a sentence is true is equivalent to the existence of the fact to which it refers; therefore: there are degrees of existence ”.

Example 4: Literary analysis

“The primordial, preconscious, ‘magical’ vision of The Goddess of Water corresponds to its narrative behavior: in addition to the agitated torrent of intertexts and genres, we will verify the blurring of the borders between waking and sleep – with a pertinent use of the surreal automatism–; the evanescence of everything that separates the written from the oral – parataxis, parallelism dominate here, as in folklore or primitive literature; and, as I have also anticipated, the barriers between the sublime and the festive are breaking down ”.

Example 5: Bacterial molecular genetics (biology)

“Although bacteria do not have sexual reproduction (although when Lederberg and Tatum discovered conjugation in 1946 they considered it as a form of sexual crossing), under certain conditions they can carry out recombination with part of the genome of a donor bacterium. The main mechanism of variation, and therefore of diversification and evolution, is found in bacteria in the mutation ”.