How To Read Papers Fast And Effectively Like A PhD

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Reading scientific papers is not like reading books or articles.

Also, the technicality in them makes it take you some time to finish reading them.

In this article, I will give some tips for reading papers faster and more effectively.

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Reading In The Wrong Way

When I started reading papers I thought it was like reading a book.

Wrong.

We should not read a paper from the top to the bottom like an article.

There's a better way to read it.

Step 1. Read The Title And Abstract

Of course, the first thing to check is the title and abstract.

Evaluate if it is relevant for you and if it is worth your time to read it.

Sometimes the title promises something that interests us but that will not cover.

That's why we should read the abstract well.

Then decide if you should keep reading it or not.

Step 2. Read the Introduction And Figures

If you're new to the topic of your paper, then you should read the introduction.

However, after reading tons of papers about something, you may know pretty well the current state of the art.

In those cases, you can skip the introduction to consult the main figure with the results.

Figures summarize all the paper results in just one or some visualizations.

Take some time to understand it and you will get the most important finding of your paper.

Step 3. Read The Discussion And Conclusion

Some people prefer to skim from the Title, Abstract, and Introduction to the Discussion, but this is up to you!

The discussion is the most interesting section of the paper.

Why?

Because it discusses the limitations, impact, and implications of the findings, plus future study suggestions.

Here, you will have a qualitative summary of their findings, allowing you to quickly investigate what they found.

Step 4. Read The Methods

Finally, if you are curious about how they concluded their findings, you can check the methods.

This is the most quantitative and hardest part of a paper because it contains all the statistics and technicality of how the authors found what they wrote.

This section is crucial for how science works, allowing researchers to replicate or critique the findings.

Summary:

This process of reading the paper from the title to the discussion can take around 15 to 30 minutes depending on the paper.

To summarize, the reading process is:

1. Title and Abstract
2. Introduction and Figures
3. Discussion and Conclusion
4. Methods

Bonus Tip 1. Remember More Using A Second Brain

I want to give some more tips to make your life easier when reading and studying these papers.

First, you MUST store your paper's notes in a second brain.

This could be Obsidian or Notion.

This will allow you to remember more and to ask for the information you took note of any time you want, instead of trying to remember it just in your head.

Bonus Tip 2. Use A Reference Manager

If you're not using a reference manager please download Zotero NOW.

Zotero is an amazing software that allows you to organize and cite the papers you read.

This will change your life, I promise.

Bonus Tip 3. Set A Reading Time

My final tip is to set a reading time.

For example, you can read papers when you're in the lab from 10 to 11 am and before going to sleep (if you find it fun).

Think of this as a tiny habit.

If you use 2 hours when you're in the lab to read papers, and considering that it takes you 30 minutes to finish one, then you use 10 hours in a week to read and finish 20 papers.

In a month, this means you read 80 papers.

And you didn't use your free time! Just your office works.

This is way better to read furiously because you're running out of time, right?

This is how I read papers fast and effectively.

Note that although reading papers fast is an important skill, the most important part is what comes after.

Our brain is a forgetting machine.

If you don't store what you read somewhere, you will forget.

And all your time reading is for nothing if you can't retain the information.

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