How to read a research paper

You may find if useful to ask yourself the following questions as you read the paper, or after you read the paper.

• What problem is the paper addressing? How well do they succeed in solving the problem?
• What is the contribution of the paper? How important is this contribution?
• How would you have addressed the problem?
• What was unclear to you?
• How does the paper relate to other papers we have read?
• Are there any obvious or non-obvious extensions to this work?
• Can you suggest a two-sentence project idea based on the ideas of this paper?

Michael Mitzenmacher has a longer discussion on how to read a research paper.