How to read research papers quickly and effectively.

Reading and extracting valid information from research papers is essential for researchers. S. Keshav[1] explained that researchers spend a lot of time reading research papers. Researchers read papers for several reasons: to review them for a conference or a class, keep current in their field, or a literature survey of a new domain.

Have you ever spent about 20 mins reading a research paper and discovered that it wasn’t what you needed? In my recent poll, 25 out of 30 responders spend 20 minutes and above reading a research paper. Depending on your research focus, not all research papers deserve to be read in-depth. Therefore, it is essential to scheme through the crucial details to decide to dive in or pass.

S. Keshav outlines a practical and efficient three-pass method for reading research papers which could also be a great approach.

I have highlighted 8 points below to help you effectively read through a research paper in minutes. Of course, you could stop at any of the steps depending on your use case.

1. Title: Check the title of the paper as it is the best and essential few words where you get the keywords that gives an idea of the topic the author has discussed. Pick out the keywords from the title; it gives you a broad view of what the paper is about.
2. Abstract: This section usually has a few paragraphs. It starts with the motivation behind the paper, then the literature gap the paper is trying to fill and ends with a summary of the results. Identify the methods and results from here.
3. The Introduction: Read through the first (Not compulsory) and last paragraph for better details on the problem the paper is trying to solve.
4. Results: Quickly skim through the subtitles to catch what they found
5. Skim the conclusion to summarise what the paper found. After reading this, you could decide if it’s something you are interested in or not.

By now, you understand the results; you know what the paper is trying to achieve, what the research aim is, and what it brings to the table.

If you want to go further, you are probably interested in the paper and need to extract some information from it.

6. Depending on what you are interested in, whether results or methodology. Now go back to that section and read with more excellent care. Also, jot down the key points or make comments as you read. For results, pay attention to the graphs and tables.

7. Briefly read through other additional sections such as limitations if available.

8. Pull out the references that you might need in your research.

Voila!!! You have read 25 papers in 10 minutes. That’s a joke 😂

Let me know your opinion in the comment. Did you try this? or do you have a better approach? Drop a comment👇