Advice for reading more advanced research papers:
Since weāre talking about it and I have experience with it, Iāll share what Iāve learned about it. Here are my troubleshooting tips, I hope they help.
This paper might assume you know more than you currently do. Take a day or three to watch introductory videos to the topic, or read tutorials. Feel free to start reading when you can skim and at least recognize all the terms that arenāt defined in the paper.
I canāt put the pieces together very well, Iām familiar with the terminology, but it makes it harder to understand:
With a paper or pen in hand, write out the same sentences that you arenāt parsing, except replace the terms with their definitions. You might find that re-writing is a time consuming yet very effective process. It might even make the sentence look blatantly obvious. You might wonder why it had to be said at all. That means itās working. This is my #1 favorite trick, it makes everything easier to think about.
Iām stuck on one line. Itās dense:
Try out the trick noted above. If itās still giving you trouble, try working out a few examples by hand. If thatās giving you trouble, take a break and come back to it.
Iām stuck on one line. It looks wrong and itās upsetting me:
Congratulations! You have enough confidence in this subject that you have certain expectations, and can call out stuff that sounds wrong.
If the paper was peer reviewed and published, you should immediately assume that this is not a typo or a mistake. Look for any lines you skipped, further context, explanations, footnotes, and make sure you understand whatās really being said. These will help you. If they do not, attempt to find a counterexample or a proof. That will either be a worthwhile email to the author or an enlightening activity.
If the paper has not been peer reviewed or published, all bets are probably off. People make mistakes, and it happens more than weād like to admit. Try to prove or disprove the statement. See what happens.
A few Stack-exchange users suggest noting your issues with that line, accepting the conclusion, moving on, and coming back to adress your doubts later. I donāt. Math has a lot of unfortunate and counter-intuitive truths that need you to follow through with your questioning. Accepting something you canāt prove is a bad habit. Donāt get used to it.
Iām not understanding what Iām reading:
Are you taking care of yourself? Have you eaten, slept, rested, exercised, hydrated, and so on? If not, fix that, and try to come back to it later. Itās not always a good time to read a research paper.
I canāt recall what I read very well:
Donāt highlight, you need to interact with the text more. Take a pen and get ready to annotate. Put the subject/topic of every paragraph in the margin. Highlight underline important details, and also summarize them in the margin. If you have any questions, also write them in the margin. If the paper leaves out any justifications you are able to provide, add them in-between the lines.
Iām not in the mood to read because Iām tired:
Then donāt read it. It might be tempting to at least sit down with it, but what good is that when youāre probably going to surf the web on your phone or fall asleep. Donāt even kid yourself. Just save it for a better time.
Iām not in the mood to read because itās intimidating:
Interpret it one line at a time. Be patient. Look up what you have to look up. Intend to finish this sentence and donāt worry about the next ones. Once you finish it, make the choice to keep going to the next sentence or not. Youāll probably blow through a paragraph in a little bit of time, which is better than nothing at all.
Iāve gotten lost in the details and canāt really contextualize what I learned:
Find a friend, online followers, or a taxicab driver and try to explain the paper. Just try it until youāre happy with how you explain it and contextualize it. Thatās a good tool.
