CHAPTER ONE 



PREPARATION 



" The lame in the path outstrip the swift 

 who wander from it." — Francis Bacon 



Study 



THE research worker remains a student all his Ufe. Preparation 

 for his work is never finished for he has to keep abreast with 

 the growth of knowledge. This he does mainly by reading current 

 scientific periodicals. Like reading the newspapers, this study 

 becomes a habit and forms a regular part of the scientist's life. 



The 1952 edition of the World List of Scientific Periodicals 

 indexes more than 50,000 periodicals. A simple calculation shows 

 this is equivalent to probably two million articles a year, or 40,000 

 a week, which reveals the utter impossibility of keeping abreast 

 of more than the small fraction of the Uterature which is most 

 pertinent to one's interest. Most research workers try to see 

 regularly and at least glance through the titles of the articles in 

 twenty to forty periodicals. As with the newspaper, they just skim 

 through most of the material and read fully only those articles 

 which may be of interest. 



The beginner would be well advised to ask an experienced 

 research worker in his field which journals are the most important 

 for him to read. Abstracting journals are of limited value, if only 

 because they necessarily lag some considerable time behind the 

 original journals. They do, however, enable the scientist to cover 

 a wide range of Uterature and are most valuable to those who 

 have not access to a large number of journals. Students need 

 some guidance in ways of tracing references through indexing 

 journals and catalogues and in using libraries. 



It is usual to study closely the Uterature deahng with the 

 particular problem on which one is going to work. However, 

 surprising as it may seem at first, some scientists consider that 

 this is unwise. They contend that reading what others have 



I 



