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How to read research paper, textbook, long text content?

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Re: How to read research paper, textbook, long text content?

#61

Post by wolverine876 »

N1H1L wrote: post #41

For journal papers I get you completely dude. I am a PhD, and now a research scientist. Reading and writing journal papers is what I have been doing for close to a decade now - and yet to really get a paper - I often have to dedicate two-three days to that paper. Many people in my field say that they have read a paper, but from my experience all they have done is read the abstract and the figure captions. That's not…

> the work in the paper often took several months, and then a few more months to write, revise and polish it. It literally condenses one to two man-years worth of acquired knowledge in 10 pages - it should not shame you then that it takes a few days for you to digest it all.

Essential point, but in the interest of practicality: is there a way such knowledge could be communicated more efficietly?

Re: How to read research paper, textbook, long text content?

#62

Post by pyuser583 »

kurosawa wrote: post #54
alexkreidler wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. I highly recommend the 1940 edition. There's an online version from the Internet Archive here: https://archive.org/details/howtoreadabook1940edition/page/n...

why this edition specifically?

It was rewritten with a coauthor later on. The changes were substantial.

Re: How to read research paper, textbook, long text content?

#63

Post by netizen-936824 »

pyuser583 wrote: post #39

I strongly suggest “How to Read a Book” by Adler. It’s an excellent discussion of types and levels of reading. When faced with a large, imposing text, my method is: 1. Read the title page, table of contents, index, and introduction several times. This should make it clear what the book is about and how it’s structure. 2. Read it straight through from start to end. No notes. Don’t worry about not understanding. Intell…

This is really solid advice. I normally make it to number 2 sometimes 3 when I'm dealing with large amounts of information. I've found that 2 gets me far enough to operate in most circumstances and when I encounter specifics in the future I can easily dive deeper into detail.

Re: How to read research paper, textbook, long text content?

#65

Post by yawnxyz »

samus wrote: post #55

Research papers are supposed to be read in the following order: 1. Abstract 2. Introduction 3. Conclusions Skipping to the end sounds counter-intuitive, but it will prevent you from getting lost in the nitty-gritty details of the paper. It makes rarely sense to read a paper front-to-back in one session. You have to pace yourself. Also, if you don't know the domain that well, you will get lost in trying to understand…

If you're reading a biology paper, do Abstract > Intro > Graphs/Images > Conclusion

Re: How to read research paper, textbook, long text content?

#66

Post by samsin »

I just finished reading 'A Thousand Brains' by Jeff Hawkins and in the suggested readings he includes a bit on how to approach scientific papers that might be helpful to you:

"Only after you have learned the nomenclature, history, and concepts of a topic would I recommend reading individual scientific papers. The title and abstract of a paper are rarely sufficient to know if it has the information you are looking for. I typically read the abstract. Then I scan the images, which in a well-written paper should tell the same story as the text. Then I jump to the discussion section at the end. This section is often the only place where the authors plainly describe what the paper is about. Only after these preliminary steps will I consider reading the paper from beginning to end."

I think your intentions are a bit different though. You want to understand the complete text and all its nuances, while Jeff is interested in specific information.

Re: How to read research paper, textbook, long text content?

#67

Post by beaconstudios »

I quite enjoy the technique of transcribing a book into my own words. The benefit is at least threefold:

- writing out things you've learned helps with retention of information

- if you're putting the contents into your own words, you can't do that without understanding the words first. This forces you to truly consider the implications of what you're reading and to begin to systematise your understanding

- you end up with a much shorter crib notes version of the book to refer back to later, written in your own words for ease of access

Re: How to read research paper, textbook, long text content?

#69

Post by deltaonefour »

You're complaining about reading 3 paragraphs. I think this problem is different from what other's are thinking.

People are thinking you don't have the attention span or self control to read something dense or heavy... I think it's something more than that. You could have a certain condition.

Re: How to read research paper, textbook, long text content?

#70

Post by free-malloc »

barrenko wrote: post #21

Practice. And take it easy at first. I started reading them in the bathroom :).

This. Every academic field has its own language, culture, and body of knowledge it regards as "fundamental." To go from reading English to reading a CS paper involves learning these.

And this takes a metric fuck ton of practice. There is no royal road.

IMO, you should probably start with easier material until you strengthen these muscles. Some examples of friendly CS texts that comes to mind are Programming Pearls, the C programming language, or the SQL paper by Codd https://www.seas.upenn.edu/~zives/03f/cis550/codd.pdf

I'd be curious what texts other people would recommend for someone who is a student getting a bachelor's degree in CS.

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