How to Read a Paper [pdf]

I give all my doctoral students a copy of the following great paper (and I&#x27;ve used a variant of the check list at the end for years - avoids errors when working on multiple papers with multiple international teams in parallel):<p>How to Write a Paper <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www-mech.eng.cam.ac.uk&#x2F;mmd&#x2F;ashby-paper-V6.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www-mech.eng.cam.ac.uk&#x2F;mmd&#x2F;ashby-paper-V6.pdf</a>

This is the updated (2016) version<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;svr-sk818-web.cl.cam.ac.uk&#x2F;keshav&#x2F;papers&#x2F;07&#x2F;paper-reading.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;svr-sk818-web.cl.cam.ac.uk&#x2F;keshav&#x2F;papers&#x2F;07&#x2F;paper-re...</a>

I used to write research at Goldman. Our chief economist would often give this book as an end-of-year gift. I found it useful in my writing: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;press.uchicago.edu&#x2F;ucp&#x2F;books&#x2F;book&#x2F;chicago&#x2F;E&#x2F;bo25674588.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;press.uchicago.edu&#x2F;ucp&#x2F;books&#x2F;book&#x2F;chicago&#x2F;E&#x2F;bo256745...</a>

I absolutely love this paper.<p>Its counterpart is Kording and Mensh, “Ten Simple Rules for Structuring Papers.” doi.org&#x2F;10.1101&#x2F;088278<p>And the strategies outlined in both ought to be taught much more rigorously, and at an earlier stage in an education, than they currently are.

I think the time estimates depend heavily on the field. A mathematician recently told him that it would take him 1-2 weeks (with nothing else to do in that time) to digest a paper outside his main area.

This is the 2007 version. The latest 2016 version can be read here:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;web.archive.org&#x2F;web&#x2F;20220615001635&#x2F;http:&#x2F;&#x2F;blizzard.cs.uwaterloo.ca&#x2F;keshav&#x2F;home&#x2F;Papers&#x2F;data&#x2F;07&#x2F;paper-reading.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;web.archive.org&#x2F;web&#x2F;20220615001635&#x2F;http:&#x2F;&#x2F;blizzard.c...</a><p>Or here:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;people.mpi-sws.org&#x2F;~jcmace&#x2F;teaching&#x2F;cds-ss20&#x2F;paper-reading.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;people.mpi-sws.org&#x2F;~jcmace&#x2F;teaching&#x2F;cds-ss20&#x2F;paper-r...</a><p>Or here:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;svr-sk818-web.cl.cam.ac.uk&#x2F;keshav&#x2F;papers&#x2F;07&#x2F;paper-reading.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;svr-sk818-web.cl.cam.ac.uk&#x2F;keshav&#x2F;papers&#x2F;07&#x2F;paper-re...</a><p>Here&#x27;s the current website of Dr. Keshav, the author:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;svr-sk818-web.cl.cam.ac.uk&#x2F;keshav&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;index.php&#x2F;HTRAP" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;svr-sk818-web.cl.cam.ac.uk&#x2F;keshav&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;index.php&#x2F;HTR...</a><p>The links in the 2016 paper itself are rotten, but he provides updated links on his website above.

That&#x27;s a long list of supporting organisations&#x2F;institutions for a somewhat trivial paper.

How I read a research paper <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;muratbuffalo.blogspot.com&#x2F;2013&#x2F;07&#x2F;how-i-read-research-paper.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;muratbuffalo.blogspot.com&#x2F;2013&#x2F;07&#x2F;how-i-read-researc...</a>

Thanks for the nice references. When I read documents, I look to organize and link information in a way that helps me recall its context. Another realization is that papers are often read with different &#x27;hats&#x27; - as a reader, as a reviewer, or as a writer. To help my own process I built a document-reading that helps me curate, visualize, and recall personal knowledge as I read and annotate research papers; the app also extracts data from documents such as URLs and references - <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.knowledgegarden.io" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.knowledgegarden.io</a>

I don&#x27;t really agree with such advice. The only important thing is to read (or skim) many papers in the relevant field. Initially they will be hard to understand as they are full of difficult jargon. But after a while, you will notice the jargon that repeats across articles, be able to look it up, and ultimately understand more and more. After a while it will be fairly easy.<p>But there is no general &quot;paper reading ability&quot; one could learn. Papers outside your field of expertise will always be hard to understand as long as you are not used to the relevant field, the jargon and style.

The 3-pass method seems to roughly correspond the Adler&#x27;s[1] technique for reading a book. The first pass is the systematic skimming of the inspectional level, the second pass corresponds to the analytical level, and the final pass of evaluating the arguments and ideas corresponds to his syntopical level.<p>1 Adler, Mortimer Jerome, and Charles Van Doren. 1972. How to Read a Book. Rev. and updated ed. New York: Simon and Schuster.

My advisor gave me this paper at the beginning of my PhD; useful advice especially when google scholar dumps heaps of papers onto you every so often. Though I&#x27;d largely ignore the time estimates. That varies deeply depending on the paper and field.

Interesting paper. Consequently, a similar approach is outlined in &quot;How to Read a Book&quot; by Mortimer J. Adler, which covers reading approaches for a variety of formats.

It&#x27;s reassuring since, having not habitually read papers, I&#x27;ve always wondered how (in)efficiently I read compared to readers of a professional sort.

Is there a DOI for this paper? Couldn’t find it

guess this article&#x2F;approach is still useful&#x2F;helpful even AI could help do a good summary... thanks for sharing...

But how do you read &quot;How to Read a Paper&quot;?

interesting. Are there such papers - that one can check the proofs and references and etc - on IT&#x2F;computing related stuff? Most papers i have stumbled upon, back in time, have been some mumbo-jumbo showing-off this or that approach or achievement, but rarely coherent or consistent (one example talks X, another talks Y, with no link inbetween). Hence i stopped reading any such papers, years ago..

&quot;The first version of this document was drafted by my students: …&quot;<p>So why aren&#x27;t they listed as co-authors? :-)