Reading Scientific Papers as a Non-Scientist

As everyone with access to the Internet is aware, the world is in the middle of a pandemic. COVID-19 has spread to most countries, who have had varying degrees of success in containing it. While many have focused on the responses of governments, most have ignored the problems of scientific illiteracy in the general population. Most who have gotten into an argument about the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine have seen papers brought forward, only to find that the conclusions of the paper run counter to the arguments of the person who posted it. Not only is it embarrassing to find…