[gavia1]

As someone who has read almost 50 academic papers in the last 6 months (MSc in Computer Science, we read a paper before class and then analyze it with the lecturer) I agree unanimously with the parent.

Above making notes, I find that challenging the material in the paper is key to understanding. For example, authors may make claims without sufficient data to support their arguments or they might not explain a particular anomaly in their results. There are nuances in papers everywhere, try to pick these these out as you read them.

Secondly, you will at times read papers which assume a particular level of prior background knowledge. For example, I've had to read papers on rateless codes (Spinal Codes), indoor passive radar and full duplex radio with zero background in electrical engineering or physics. 6 months ago I would look at some of the equations and think "nope, not even going to try and understand that". This is bad, don't do it. If you don't understand the equation at first glance (and I would be surprised if you did) break it down piece by piece. Annotate what each variable/Greek letter represents, how it fits together with their explaination of the equation and how it might fit a trend shown in their results. Sometimes you might find that you have to do extensive Googling to understand whole papers, don't worry, in my experience this is perfectly normal.

Finally, if you don't understand something, don't continue reading. Try to understand it before progressing. Only continue reading if you absolutely cannot get it. If you find that a lack of understanding of an earlier part of the paper starts to limit your understanding of later parts, stop! Go back and re-read the earlier parts. Quite often, material later in the paper can adequately explain concepts earlier on.

Best of luck!