How to Read Papers Efficiently?

Efficient paper reading procedure
Efficient paper reading procedure

Do NOT read article from beginning to end!!!

Phase 1: Surveying the article

Feel free to stop reading the article at any point

  • Read the title and keywords (these are probably what got you look at the paper)
    • If these don’t interest you at all ➡️ stop!
  • Read the abstract (most important part of the paper)
  • Read the conclusions

Phase 2: Reading the article

  • Look at the tables and figures (including captions)

    • This is really what was done in the work
    • It will help you decide, whether you want to dig in or not

  • Read the introduction carefully

    • This is the background needed and why the study was done.
    • Introduction in research paper is one of the most important point.
      • It often formulates in words what the paper is about, and what contribution the paper makes. (like a longer abstract)
      • It is informative and help us to understand the paper in a high level.

  • Read the results and discussion

    • This is the real heart of the paper. Here you will spend most of the time
    • Keep asking: “Are the authors demonstrating that their proposal/solution work?”
      • Try to prove them wrong or get convinced that solution works

    Note: Sometimes Results section is included in Experiments section.

  • Read the experimental

    • This is how they did the work
    • You only get to this point if you are really interested and need to understand exactly what was done to better understand the meaning of the data and its interpretation.

Phase 3: Write some notes so you don’t have to re-read the whole paper again

The faintest writing is better than the best memory! 好记性不如烂笔头！

Reference

Thesis How To Read Papers
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Last updated on Apr 6, 2022

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