How to read a paper

In the process of scientific research, it is inevitable to read many papers , Reading a paper is the first step of scientific research , Choosing appropriate reading methods can help researchers understand papers more efficiently and carry out scientific research work .

Here we mainly introduce ACM and IEEE Fellow、 Professor of computer science, Cambridge University Srinivasan Keshav Recommended Three times reading method , And attached Methods of academic research , Help you quickly understand a field .

Attach the professor's thesis ：paper.dvi (mit.edu)

Three-pass（ Three times reading method ）

First pass

A quick look at , Understand the general idea of the paper , Finally decide whether to read again .（ when ：5~10mins）

1、 Read the title carefully （title）、 Abstract （abstract） And introduction （introduction）

2、 Read the chapter （section heading） And subsections （sub-section heading） The title of the , Ignore other content .

3、 Read the conclusion （conclusion）

4、 Browse references （reference）, Cross out the papers you have read

After the first reading, answer 5 A question （5 Cs）:

1、Category: What kind of essay is this ？ Review papers ？ Research and analysis papers ？

2、Context: What are the relevant papers ？ Based on what theory to analyze the problem ？ 3、Correctness: Whether the hypothesis of the paper is correct ？

4、Contributions: What is the main contribution of this paper ？

5、Clarity: Is this paper well written ？（ Is the structure complete ？ Is the narrative clear ？）

ps, Tips for writing papers ： The structure is clear , Chapter title 、 Chapter subheadings and abstracts should be well written .

Second times

Understand the content of the paper , But don't get caught up in the details , For example, proof, etc . While reading , Write down the main points or comments of the paper .（ when ：1h）

1、 Look carefully at the charts in the paper . Pay attention to the details , Whether the coordinate axis is correctly marked ？ Whether the conclusion has statistical significance ？ These details can often distinguish a really good paper from a shoddy one .

2、 When reading , Mark references that you haven't read , For further reading . Through this method , Can better understand the background of this paper .

After the second reading, I can understand the content of the article , Be able to summarize the main idea of the article , And attach supporting evidence .

Sometimes , After reading the second time, I still don't understand the article , Maybe you don't know anything about this field , There are some unfamiliar terms （terminology） And acronyms （acronyms）. Or you don't know the proof or technology involved in the article . It is also possible that this article is poorly written .

Third times

In-depth understanding of the paper , Follow the author's ideas to reproduce the paper , By comparing the reproduced results with the results in the paper , You can know whether the paper is novel and the hidden assumptions （ Relevant citations are missing ） And potential technical problems .（ when ： Unfixed ）

1、 Identify all assumptions in the paper , Challenge every hypothesis , Think about what you would think if you were yourself . in the meantime , You can write down your ideas for future work .

2、 Reconstruct the structure of this paper in your mind , Point out the advantages and disadvantages of this paper .

Doing A Literature Survey（ Do academic research ）

1、 Use academic search engines , for example Google Scholar and CiteSeer etc. , Use keywords to find the articles published in this field in recent years 3-5 Papers . Read all these papers 1 All over , Learn about the work of these papers , Then read these papers related work part . In this way, we can understand the recent work in this field , If you are lucky, you can find a review paper to read .

2、 Find out the commonly cited papers in the references of these papers , Or repeated author names . Visit the websites of these key people , Check out their recent papers , You can also see what top-level meetings they have attended . This can help you know the top conferences in your field .

3、 Visit the websites of these top conferences , Browse the latest meeting minutes . adopt “ Three times reading method ” For the first time, quickly identify high-quality related work . Summarize the papers found in this step and the highly cited papers in the second step , Basically, it can form the first edition of your literature review .