1. How to Read a Paper

2. Reasons to read a paper Describes current research
Allows you to replicate/extend the results
Provides you with useful data
Gives you “pre-digested” thoughts
To decide whether to publish it
Teaches you how to write.

3. You will read a lot of papers
Most will be irrelevant
Many will be poor
Some will be important

4. Types of papers Theoretical Implementation Experimental Survey/Review
prove theorems
describe new algorithms
Implementation
describe new software tools
Experimental
describe results of experiments
Survey/Review
review current results in a field of research

5. Different kinds of papers
Problem(s) investigated:
well-established class of problems, e.g., TSP, image retrieval etc.
novel class of problems (is it really new?)
Techniques used for their solution:
new, i.e., developed by authors?
existing? Developed by authors or others?
new combination of existing techniques?

6. Different kinds of papers
Show that techniques used are good or better/worse than X and understand why
Learn more about the problem (e.g., its computational complexity, phase transition, increase understanding/conceptualisation, etc.)
Evaluation?
run tests: test suite and testing must match problem targeted
theoretical: correct and understandable/convincing and relevant

7. Paper organization Title & author list Abstract Introduction
Materials, Methods, Evaluation and Results
Related work, if not done at the beginning
Acknowledgements
Discussion/Conclusion
References
Depending on the journal/conference/type of work these can vary in content/order

8. How to start reading?

9. The first pass
The first pass is a quick scan to get a bird’s-eye view of the paper.
Consists of the following steps:
Carefully read the title, abstract, and introduction
Read the section and sub-section headings, but ignore everything else
Read the conclusions
Glance over the references, mentally ticking off the ones you’ve already read

10. Title and Author list Title Author list Author list conventions
what is this paper about?
Author list
who did the work? where are they from?
try to remember the names: these people may become collaborators, colleagues, or bosses sometime in the future.
Author list conventions
alphabetical (traditional CS)
ranked: first author did most work

11. Abstract Brief outline of the results presented in the paper
Read it carefully
Can you understand what the paper is about?
Can you come up with a solution to the problem addressed by the paper?
What are the results achieved in this paper?
How comfortable will you be reading this paper?
Note: from any paper you should at least read the title, author list, and abstract

12. Introduction Introduces the problem(s) addressed in the paper
Questions to ask:
now that the problem is stated in more detail than in the abstract, can you think of a solution (or conclusion)?
is enough/any prior art listed? If not, why?
can you see why this paper is an advance over what was done in the past?
Introduction will also give you pointers to other papers you might want to read

13. Conclusions
The authors' summary of the contributions provided by the paper.
Often, also philosophical discussions on the problem, or field of research

14. The second pass
Read the paper with greater care, but ignore details such as proofs.
Jot down the key points,
Make comments in the margins.
Look carefully at the figures, diagrams and other illustrations in the paper.
Are the axes properly labeled?
Think about the results.

15. The second pass
Mark relevant unread references for further reading (this is a good way to learn more about the background of the paper).

16. The second pass This pass should take up to an hour. At the end,
you should be able to grasp the content of the paper.
You should be able to summarize the main thrust of the paper, with supporting evidence, to someone else.

17. The third pass
To fully understand a paper, particularly if you are reviewer, requires a third pass.

18. References
How to Read a Paper: S. Keshav, ACM SIGCOMM Computer Communication, July
How to read a paper by S. Keshav keshavA.pdf
Reading scientific papers (at Purdue) er.html
General writing resources (at Purdue)