Reading a Scientific Paper ITCS 8110, UNCC Zachary Wartell, Ph.D.
Computing Paper Types Research Papers Application Papers Review/Survey Papers
Paper Organization Summary/Abstract Introduction Related Work Methods Results Discussion Conclusion Acknowledgements Bibliography
Active Reading take notes underline/highlight and comment on paper for ‘dense’ papers – read through quickly for overview – re-read carefully for details
Read Critically React to points in the paper Find the gaps in the work Take note of well written papers to improve your own writing Examine the paper in detail Look through bibliography
Difficulties Reading a Paper reader is unfamiliar with the field writing is poor – logical connections left out – lots of jargon – lack of clear-road map highly experienced author forgets to take a step back unclear results – must follow chain of prior work
Finding and Organizing – IEEE Xplore – ACM Digital Library – Your personal bibliography – (Bibtex) – (UNCC Novell)