How to read a research paper quickly and effectively

How to read a research paper quickly and effectively

Reading and understanding a research paper is not an easy task, sometimes, it gives you a headache and wastes too much of your time.

To understand any paper without wasting time. You have to read it in three different phases, which are: 

 Phase-1: The general idea ( 10-20 min)

 Phase-2: Grasp that the content of the paper (up to 1hr)

 Phase-3: Understand the depth of the article ( 5 to 6hr)

 Phase-1  

1. Read the title and abstract carefully. 

2. Skim the introduction.

3. Read the conclusion

After Phase-1, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1.  Category of paper: measurement/analysis/new method etc.

2. Context of the article: theoretical or experimental

3. Contribution: what are the main contributions.

4. Correctness: Do the assumptions appear to be valid?.

5. Clarity: is the paper well written?

 Now you can decide this paper is good to read or not

 Phase 2:   

1. Ignore the proofs.

2. Look carefully at the figures/graphs/diagram, etc are they adequately labeled? Are the results shown with error bars?

3. Find out the explanations of the figures.

 Now, after the Phase-2. If you were able to find any of the following:

1. You are doing similar research.

2. You are a reviewer.

3. You want to implement or recreate the same work.

4. You identified the paper innovations and hidden failing and assumptions.

 Then you can go for phase 3  

Phase-3

1. Read everything

 After the Phase-3 reading, you should be able to:

1. To reconstruct the entire structure of the paper

2. Able to identify the strong and weak points (e.g., implicit assumptions, missing citations, and potential issues with experimental or analytical techniques)