Step 1: begin at the beginning
read the title
get excited for cool science
note the authors
get mad at them for having more papers than you
spend ten minutes wondering if you’d have been better off going to whatever institution they’re at
die a little inside
Step 2: the abstract and introduction
read the abstract
skip right to the introduction because you’re not completely sure what they’re talking about and maybe that will clear it up
alright now we’re talking
understand the entire first paragraph of the introduction
mostly get the second and third paragraphs
skip over the technical bit at the end because boring
Step 3: the results (aka the good stuff)
read the first paragraph
really not get what’s being said
skip right to figure 1
read the figure caption
call it good, you got the jist
repeat for the remaining figures
Step 4: give up
this paper really isn’t answering the question you had in the first place
you’ll just cite it later it’s fine
Step 5: keep doing science!
fail because of some unexpected and puzzling problem
spend 2-6 weeks troubleshooting and getting nowhere
decide to do another literature search to see if anyone else has had this issue
find the same paper you read before cited a bunch
Step 6: reread
actually like read it this time
get to the end
find the answer to your question
die a little inside
wonder why you didn’t just read it fully to begin with and save yourself weeks of work
Step 7: follow citations to another paper that looks relevant
repeat entire cycle
wonder why science is so hard