Rough draft.This research track is under review with Dr. Atit's lab. Content and sequence may still change.

Read it in pieces

From an Observation to a Researchable Question

Take the reading one piece at a time. For each piece: read it once, underline the sentence that says what happens, then look up any word in the list. Tap a word to see its definition.

Piece 1 of 2

Here is the team's intake summary (composite patient, no real patient data): Mateo, born at term, complete cleft of the left lip and palate, newborn exam finds no other birth defects, parents are unaffected, family history is limited and unclear.

Piece 2 of 2

When the team brainstormed, they wrote every question on the whiteboard. A: Why did this happen to Mateo specifically? B: Was it something the parents did wrong? C: Among babies with a cleft palate, does repairing the palate earlier rather than later lead to fewer speech problems by age 5? D: Is Mateo's future a good one? E: In mothers during pregnancy, is high life stress associated with higher odds of having a baby with an orofacial cleft? F: How heritable is cleft lip and palate, that is, how much of the risk is explained by genes? Three of these (C, E, F) map onto real published studies. C is the TOPS surgical-timing trial [PMID:37646677]. E is a five-country case-control study of stress and clefts [PMID:37118740]. F is a Danish twin heritability study [PMID:21423016]. The others (A, B, D) are questions science struggles with as written.

Explore

Reading the Research

What to read

Read the title and the abstract only, not the whole paper. Gamble C, et al. 2023. Timing of Primary Surgery for Cleft Palate (TOPS trial). N Engl J Med. [PMID:37646677]

Why this source matters

This is the published evidence behind today's idea: A question is researchable only when real, observable data could answer it, and PICO is how we sharpen it.

Words to unlock first

researchable questionPICOpopulationcomparisonoutcome

Reading moves

Skim the title and abstract first to get the gist.
Circle the one sentence that states the main claim.
Box the evidence the authors give for that claim.
Mark one sentence that confuses you, and move on.

Stop point

You do not need the methods or statistics yet. If a sentence is about lab technique or math you have not learned, mark it and skip it.

Your output

Write one claim-evidence sentence: what this source claims, and the one piece of evidence that backs it up.

Now put it together: In one or two sentences, say what this whole reading is telling you about Mateo. Then go back to the lesson and fill in the guided notes.

Back to this lesson