Reading a research paper is challenging, and for numerous reasons:
- Limited time to read the paper in-depth
- The paper might be for a different audience & not as interesting to you
To read a paper effectively, you must understand how they are often laid out.
- Introduction: the motivation, usually a problem, & the abridged solution
- Body: the solution in detail & how the author evaluated said solution
- Conclusion: covers the primary contribution, related work & recaps the paper. Usually sheds light on future directions for the work.
As you read a paper, you should also attempt to answer certain questions. These questions, found in [1], force you to pay closer attention to the material, and poke holes where you might have overlooked “weaknesses”.
- What is the motivation for the work? There’s often a people problem — the desired benefits in the world & the technical problem — why it doesn’t already have a solution. For the latter, it’s possible a solution exists, and is simply inadequate.
- What is the proposed solution? The proposed solution to the problems defined above. The author usually defines the design & implementation or how it may be achieved.
- What is the evaluation of the solution? How does the author make a case for their proposed solution? What are the pros & cons? How strong is their argument & is the experiment sound?
- What is your analysis of the identified problem, idea and evaluation? Break down the idea, the solution & evaluation. Are there any flaws? Is the implementation in demand, useful and feasible?
- What are the contributions? What does this paper contribute to the field? It could be simple new ideas, or a revolutionary technique.
- What are future directions for this research? This doesn’t need to be limited to the author’s words. The paper may inspire thoughts of the future, note those down.
- What questions are you left with? Questions could be about confusing ideas, or any that may inspire discussion or healthy debate.
- What is your main takeaway from the paper? Once you’re able to summarise the main implication of the material, it helps to cement the ideas in your head.
It’s recommended to note down your questions, and even markup the papers yourself. Highlight key sections & add notes next to interesting ideas (or confusing sentences). Above all, remain aware of the context of the paper in relation to other papers in the class or field.
If these do not suit you, you could try writing your own abstract of the paper. If you aren’t able to do so, a good old re-read of the paper could be enough to connect all the dots.
References
[1]. G. WIlliam, “How to Read an Engineering Research Paper”, Griswold, . [Online]. Available: https://cseweb.ucsd.edu/~wgg/CSE210/howtoread.html. [Accessed: 11–19–2024].