How to read a paper
Link https://blizzard.cs.uwaterloo.ca/keshav/home/Papers/data/07/paper-reading.pdf
Three Pass approach
The key idea is that you should read the paper in up to three passes, instead of starting at the beginning and plowing your way to the end.
Each pass accomplishes specific goals and builds upon the previous pass.
The first pass gives you a general idea about the paper.
The second pass lets you grasp the paper's content, but not its details.
The third pass helps you understand the paper in depth.
The first pass
The first pass is a quick scan to get a bird's eye view of the paper.
You can also decide whether you need to do any more passes.
This pass should take about 5 to 10 minutes and consists of the following steps
Carefully read the title, abstract and introduction
Read the section and sub-section headings, but ignore everything else
Glance at the mathematical content (if any) to determine the underlying theoretical foundations
Read the conclusions
Glance over the references, mentally ticking off the ones you've already read
At the end of the first pas, you should be able to answer the five Cs:
Category: What type of paper is this? A measurement paper? An analysis of an existing system? A description of a research prototype?
Context: Which other papers is it related to? Which theoretical bases were used to analyse the problem?
Correctness: Do the assumptions appear to be valid?
Contributions: What are the paper's main contributions?
Clarity: Is the paper well written?
Using this information, you may choose not to read further. This could be because the paper doesn't interested you or you don't know enough about the area to understand the paper or that the author make invalid assumptions.
The second pass
In the second pass, read the paper with greater care but ignore details such as proofs. It helps to jot down the key points or to make comments
Note down terms you didn't understand, or questions you may want to ask the author.
look carefully at the figures, diagrams and other illustrations in the paper. Pay special attention to graphs. Are the axes properly labeled? Are results shown with error bars, so that conclusions are statistically significant? Common mistakes like these will separate rushed, shoddy work from the truly excellent.
Remember to mark relevant unread references for further reading.
The second pass should take up to an hour for an experienced reader. After this pass, you should be able to grasp the content of the paper. You should be able to summarize the main thrust of the paper, with supporting evidence, to some one else.This level of detail is appropriate for a paper in which you are interested, but doe not lie in your research specialty.
Sometimes you won't understand a paper even at the end of the second pass. This may be because the subject matter is new to you, with unfamiliar terminology and acronyms. Or the authors maybe use a proof or experimental technique that you don't understand, so that the bulk of the paper is incomprehensible. The paper may be poorly written with unsubstantiated assertions and numerous forward references.
you can now choose to
Set the paper aside, hoping you don't need to understand the material to be successful in your career
Return to the paper later, perhaps after reading the background material
Persevere and go on to the third pass
The third pass
To fully understand a paper, particularly if you are a reviewer, requires a third pass. The key to the third pass is to attempt to virtually re-implement the paper: that is making the same assumptions as the authors, re-create the work.
By comparing the re-creation with the actual paper, you can easily identify not only a per's innovations, but also its hidden failings and assumptions.
This pass requires great attention to detail. You should identify and challenge every assumption in every statement. Moreover, you should think about how you yourself would present a particular idea.
This pass can take many hours for beginners and more than an hour or two even for an experienced reader. At the end of this pass you should be able to reconstruct the entire structure of the paper from memory, as well as be able to identify its string and weak points.
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