Review or research paper for junior undergraduate students I am a junior (year-1) UG student, I have noticed that there are 2 different types of papers / publications, research and review papers. I would like to ask as a total beginner in reading papers, if I am interested in a particular topic (for me it is organic chemistry, biochemistry and cell biology), which type of papers is better, as to understand deeper into the topic and the general paragraph structure and uses of words in a formal paper?
Thanks.
Research papers by their very nature need to often focus on a very, very small and specialized topic. This means that it is hard to get an overview of the field by just reading research papers. Reviews are generally better at that. However, those reviews often still depend on the reader being familiar with what was previously done in that field. So beginning students often still struggle with these papers. Of particular use to students and researchers entering a new field are reviews aimed at a more general audience. For example, in economics there is an entire journal aimed at this type of review: the Journal of Economic Perspectives. Once you have an overview of the field, you can decide what kind of sub-topic interests you and find a research article. You can use those articles to refine your knowledge, and learn about the typical structure of a reseach article.