How to read a paper efficiently
Structure of a Journal a Journal Article
- Title
- Keywords
- Abstract
- Introduction
- Experimental
- Results and Discussion
- Tables, Figures
- Summary/Conclusions
- References
Two-phase process
Phase 1: Surveying the Article
to see if it's really worth investing a lot of time
- Read title and keywords (these are probably what got you look at the paper)
- Read the abstract
- Read the conclusions
Feel free to stop reading the article at any point
Phase 2: Reading the Article
-
Look at the tables and figures (including captions)
This is really what was done in the work. This does not take much time so it is worth looking at before really getting into the details which will slow down the reading.
-
Read the introduction
This is the background needed and why the study was done
-
Read the results and discussion
This is the heart of the paper
The discussion of the research results, to answer the reader's possible questions, and to dig out all the clues from the experimental results. This is the place to see the real kung fu.
Even in the face of the same information, some people can mine and analyze the content, which is much richer than others.Only when you think that the author's discussion part is valuable, you really need to read the most difficult part of the paper - experiment.
-
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.
In this part, you have to read it carefully from beginning to end, and the speed must slow down and spend more time.
From the perspective of pursuing efficiency, only truly valuable things are worth your precious time.
Research note
faintest writing is better than the best memory
do not in the PDF, you need a special tool.