How to read paper

After you have chosen a topic that you are interested in or you decide to take a profession in, you should find research papers related to the topic. I recommend PapersWithCode, where you can find latest papers in your region, with its datasets, code and other related materials.

Pick the paper that catches your attention, now it’s time to read.

First pass: Gaining context and understanding

Instead of reading the paper from beginning to end with writing notes, the first pass should get the following things:

• Assure the paper is relevant
• Get the paper’s main idea from title, abstract and conclusion
• Recognize the author’s goals, methodology and what he has done

The header can tell you the main idea about the paper, and can help you know whether the paper is related quickly. The abstract is the shorten version of the full paper. By reading the abstract you can know what the paper have done and what dataset/algorithm it used. The conclusion is another abstract, which tells you what the author have done, what the author plan to do. This can help to know if the researcher’s contributions, problem domain and outcomes match your needs.

Second pass: Content familiarization

Read the Introduction section and figures, diagrams and tables to get familiar with the paper’s knowledge.

In Introduction section there’s the objective of the research efforts. It mentions and explains problem domains, research scope, prior research effects and methodologies. After getting familiar with required knowledge, it will be easier to go deeper with the paper.

Figures, diagrams and tables are visual representation of data and performance, which enables readers to get an intuitive understanding of the paper’s context.

Third pass: Deep reading

Read deeper into the paper, read all sections in the paper, except those complex arithmetic or technique formulations that may be difficult for you. You may mark them, and return to later.

Read from abstract to conclusion during this pass, and take notes about key insights and takeaways, alongside the unfamiliar terms and concepts.

To manage time you can use *The Pomodoro Technique. For example, 50/15 split is good for me, which means study for 50 mins and take 15 mins break after that. Moreover, you can take a 30 mins break after executing the split twice.

Forth pass: Final pass

The final pass involves a thorough reading of the whole paper, including all those concepts, complex algorithms you marked and skipped before. So this is an exertion of your mental and learning ability.

This pass have no specified time length, it may take from days to weeks. But in this pass, you can get some help with the Reference section, for it’s where the current paper draws inspiration from of builds upon.

Final step: Summary

Considering human’s short-time memory is small and easy-to-lose, it’s a good way to rewrite new information in your own way, either typed or written. This can help you retain new knowledge in your long-term memory.

What’s more, you can post those notes through blog or social media. If the words you wrote can help someone who is unfamiliar with the scope to understand, it means you have thoroughly obtained the new knowledge you wrote.