How to read papers fast and MUCH more efficiently - A 3 pass method
Summary
TLDRThis video introduces the 'Three Pass Method' for reading scientific papers, as outlined by Professor Keshav. The method aims to be efficient and practical, with each pass serving a distinct purpose. The first pass, taking 5-10 minutes, gives a general idea and helps determine relevance. The second pass, around an hour, focuses on grasping content and main results without deep details. The third pass, for papers of high interest, involves a thorough line-by-line reading, which can take several hours. The video encourages downloading and reading the original paper for a more comprehensive understanding and to improve reading efficiency.
Takeaways
- đ The video introduces a method for reading scientific papers efficiently, known as the 'three pass method'.
- đŻ The first pass should take 5-10 minutes and involves reading the title, abstract, introduction, section headings, conclusions, and skimming references.
- đ After the first pass, one should be able to determine the paper's category, context, theoretical basis, correctness, main contributions, and writing quality.
- â It's acceptable to put down a paper if it's not relevant to your needs, even if it's written by a top expert in the field.
- â±ïž The second pass is more time-consuming, taking about an hour, and focuses on understanding the paper's content and main results without getting into too much detail.
- đ Pay special attention to graphs and tables during the second pass, as they often summarize the main results.
- đ The second pass also involves noting references for further reading, especially those that seem important and relevant to your research.
- đ€ At the end of the second pass, decide whether to set the paper aside, return to it later, or proceed to the third pass for a thorough understanding.
- đ The third pass is a detailed, line-by-line reading reserved for papers that are crucial for understanding or are of high interest.
- âł A thorough reading in the third pass can take anywhere from three to five hours, depending on the complexity of the paper and the reader's experience.
- đ The video recommends downloading and reading the full paper by Professor Keshav, which provides a comprehensive guide on the three pass method and additional tips for literature review.
Q & A
What is the main topic discussed in the video?
-The main topic discussed in the video is the method of reading scientific papers efficiently using a 'three pass method'.
What is the three pass method for reading research papers?
-The three pass method is a systematic approach to reading papers that involves three distinct stages, each with a different purpose: getting a general idea, grasping the content without details, and understanding the paper in depth.
Why is it not efficient to read a paper from beginning to end?
-Reading a paper from beginning to end can be inefficient because it takes a lot of time, and by the end, you might find out that the paper is not relevant to your needs, thus wasting time.
What are the specific goals of the first pass in reading a paper?
-The first pass, which should take about 5 to 10 minutes, aims to give you a general idea about the paper by reading the title, abstract, introduction, section headings, conclusions, and glancing at the references.
What questions should you be able to answer after the first pass?
-After the first pass, you should be able to answer questions about the category of the paper, its context, the theoretical basis, the correctness of its assumptions, its main contributions, and whether it is well-written.
What is the purpose of the second pass in reading a paper?
-The second pass, which should take about an hour, is meant to let you grasp the paper's content and main results without getting into the details, and to pay particular attention to graphs and tables.
What should you do after the second pass of reading a paper?
-After the second pass, you can decide to set the paper aside, perhaps to return to it later, or go on to the third pass for a thorough understanding of the paper.
What is the purpose of the third pass in reading a paper?
-The third pass is a thorough, line-by-line reading of the paper where you need to understand everything written, identify and challenge every assumption and statement, which is reserved for papers that are crucial to understand deeply.
How much time should be expected to invest in the third pass of reading a paper?
-The third pass requires a significant time investment, typically around three to five hours, depending on the complexity of the paper and the reader's experience.
What is the recommendation for those who want to improve their paper reading skills?
-The recommendation is to download and read the paper by Professor keshow on how to read scientific papers, as it provides a practical and efficient method for reading research papers.
What is the final advice given by the speaker regarding the reading of papers?
-The speaker advises that it's okay to put down a paper if it's not relevant to your needs, even if it's written by a top expert in the field, and to focus on finding what you need.
Outlines
đ Introduction to the Three Pass Method for Reading Scientific Papers
The speaker introduces the topic of the video, which is about an efficient method for reading scientific papers. They reference a paper by Professor Keshow that outlines a 'three pass method' for reading research papers, which is both practical and efficient. The speaker emphasizes that this method is not about reading the paper from beginning to end but rather about reading it multiple times, each with a different purpose. The first pass is meant to give a general idea of the paper, the second to grasp the content without getting into details, and the third to understand it in depth. The speaker suggests that viewers should read the paper themselves for a more comprehensive understanding and provides a link in the video description for easy access.
đ Detailed Explanation of the Three Pass Method
This paragraph delves deeper into the specifics of the three pass method. The first pass is a quick overview that should take about 5 to 10 minutes and includes reading the title, abstract, introduction, section headings, conclusions, and skimming the references. The goal is to determine the paper's category, context, theoretical basis, correctness of assumptions, main contributions, and overall writing quality. The second pass is more detailed and should take about an hour, focusing on understanding the paper's content and main results without getting into every detail. It involves paying close attention to graphs and tables and considering the paper's references for further reading. The speaker mentions that after the second pass, one might decide to set the paper aside, return to it later, or proceed to the third pass. The third pass is a thorough, line-by-line reading reserved for papers that are deemed essential for a deep understanding. This pass requires careful attention to detail and challenging every assumption and statement, which is time-consuming and may take several hours.
Mindmap
Keywords
đĄGenomics Boot Camp
đĄScientific Paper
đĄThree Pass Method
đĄRelevance
đĄAbstract
đĄIntroduction
đĄConclusions
đĄReferences
đĄMain Contributions
đĄLiterature Review
đĄAssumptions
đĄEfficiency
Highlights
The importance of reading scientific papers efficiently and effectively is emphasized.
The traditional method of reading a paper from beginning to end is not the most efficient approach.
Professor Keshav's paper introduces a three-pass method for reading research papers.
The three-pass method is designed to be more practical and efficient, saving time and ensuring relevance.
The first pass is for a general idea, taking 5-10 minutes and focusing on the title, abstract, introduction, headings, conclusions, and references.
The first pass helps in determining the category, context, theoretical basis, correctness, and writing quality of the paper.
It's acceptable to put down a paper if it's not relevant to your purpose, even if it's written by a top expert.
The second pass takes about an hour and focuses on the paper's content, main results, graphs, tables, and references.
The second pass allows you to understand the paper's content without delving into every detail.
The third pass is for in-depth understanding, taking 3-5 hours, focusing on detailed comprehension and challenging assumptions and statements.
The third pass is recommended for papers that are crucial for understanding or are of high interest.
The three-pass method is designed to reduce time investment and ensure that the papers you read are relevant and valuable.
The paper is highly informative and provides practical advice on how to read scientific papers more efficiently.
The paper suggests that reading the paper twice is sufficient for literature review or when starting a new area of study.
For those deeply involved in a specific topic, the third-pass method is recommended for thorough understanding.
The paper is concise and provides a clear, step-by-step guide on how to read scientific papers effectively.
The paper is a valuable resource for anyone looking to improve their reading efficiency and understanding of scientific literature.
Transcripts
hello everyone welcome back to the
genomics boot camp today we will be
talking about a very relevant topic
about how to read a scientific paper if
you think the best method is to start at
its beginning and end at its end then
you are very wrong my friend
at least as wrong as I was before
reading this wonderful paper from
Professor keshow about well how to read
the scientific paper I will do a brief
summary in this video but I really
warmly suggest that you just download
and read this paper yourself because
there is more to it than I will be
talking about in this video you can find
it very easily just by ogling or I will
put also down the link in the
description of this video this paper
describes a method of reading papers
which it calls practical and efficient
three pass method for reading research
papers and you might think how is three
reading something three times more
efficient than reading it once now the
trick is that all three readings have a
different purpose as it will be
described later on in this paper and
also in this video
so what is the problem the thing is if
you read the papers from beginning to
its end then it takes a lot of time and
also at the end of the reading you might
find out that this was not really what
you wanted and basically you just wasted
a lot of time on something that is not
too relevant to your purpose so
therefore there is this three pass
method that actually cuts down on this
time and lets you decide very early in
this process if paper that you are
reading is relevant for you or not there
is also a description about this in the
paper which is basically saying that
each pass accomplishes specific goals
and builds upon the previous pass the
first PASS gives you a general idea
about the paper the second pass lets you
grasp the paper's content but not its
details and the third pass helps you
understand the paper in depth so I would
briefly talk about all of these three
passes so the first one should take you
five to ten minutes and consists of the
following steps so the first one a first
step in here is to carefully read the
title the abstract and the introduction
of the paper
then read their section and the
subsection headings so not the content
but just the headings but ignore
everything else
also then read the conclusions and
finally glance over the references and
mentally ticking off the ones that you
have already read so basically a 5-10
minute kind of procedure with a very
strictly defined steps
at the end of this first step after
let's say 10 minutes you should be able
to answer the following questions
so
the category of the paper so basically
which category it belongs to what is the
context of the paper so how is this
paper that you are reading related to
the other papers that you have read and
also what is a theoretical basis of that
paper the third Point could be the
correctness if
by your judgment the assumptions that
the paper you are reading if they are
correct the fourth Point what are the
papers main contributions
and the fifth point if it is Well
written in general So based on these
points after these 10 minutes you should
be able to tell if this paper is
relevant for you and if you decide to go
further here I would underline very
strongly underline that is indeed okay
to put down a paper so even if it's
written by the top expert in your field
but it's just not what you're looking
for it's okay to put it down and go
further to look for something that you
need
so after this go through this side yes
or no
and if if yes then you go further to the
second step or the second pass of the
reading so the second pass should take
about an hour and it is a bit more
ambiguous so basically what you're
concentrating on is the paper itself
especially well that you are able to
basically at the end of the second pass
you should be able to explain what is
the paper about you might not understand
everything in it or you know you don't
go into super great details but you have
to be able to tell what are the contents
and the main results of the paper also
you should take
particular note of the graphs and tables
so basically just to see if they are
proper and also because many times the
main results are actually summarized on
these graphs and in these tables so pay
particular attention to them also
actually the references part is quite
important and you will could actually
tick off some of the papers that you
already read but also that you plan
reading further so if if this paper that
you are reading refers to something that
seems important then perhaps you should
look at that paper next so as I said the
second pass is a bit more ambiguous in
terms of how to proceed but basically
goes through in reasonable detail I
would say at the end of the second pass
you might do one of the three things
so you went through the paper and you
understood more or less what this is
about now you can set the paper aside
with the hope that you don't need to
understand it fully and that's okay
the second possibility is that you put
the paper aside with the intention to
return to the paper perhaps later when
you are read more more about the topic
and you understand the general topic
more or you can preserve and go on to
the sex to the third pass of the reading
right away and the third pass itself is
that really the thorough reading of the
paper line by line where you need to
look at everything and you need to
understand everything that is written
there
now I have to say normally
especially if you are kind of doing kind
of a literature review type of thing or
you know just want to get into the topic
the
first and the second path is okay so you
don't need to do a thorough reading of I
don't know 150 research papers
to get into a topic in a very deep way
if you were just starting
so this third pass is really reserved to
the papers that you really really need
to to understand or really really want
to understand so in this case then you
have to read it with a great attention
to detail and also
you
identify and challenge every assumption
and every statement in the paper
so that you understand why is why are
the things done and and how are the
things done in there and unsurprisingly
this takes time so if you do this then
expect a three to five hour time
investment for a single Paper of course
with time it gets better well in this in
this this paper says that it is an hour
for an experienced reader
I'm not so certain so
um maybe I'm not an experienced reader
but I I doubt that it could be done in
an hour but anyway so let's say several
hours of time investment is needed and
if you are starting with something just
count on three three four hours three
four five hours so and that's it so this
is how you
go through three times a paper to decide
if you need it or how or how much you
need from it
as I mentioned this two-page or two and
a half page document is very informative
so I really suggest you to go and
download this PDF and read it in detail
so this is this one you can read fully
from from start to the to the Finish
because it's quite short and it's very
informative also it has some other parts
that I am not going to discuss here for
example doing a literature survey or or
some other things for other pointers
that are mentioned in this paper so yeah
so that's I I just leave that one to
your curiosity to read this read these
parts so again a paper about how to read
the paper very informative and I suggest
very much that you read this one to
improve your further experience and your
the speed at which you can read the
papers in the future for my side for
today this was everything I thank you
for your time and wish you a really nice
day
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