How to Read A Paper: A Three-Pass Method

Table of Contents

1. First Pass: General Idea

Go through title, abstract and introduction. Checkout subtitles but ignore content. Then read conclusions. Glance over references, mentally picking off the ones you’ve already read.

  • Category
  • Context
  • Correctness
  • Contribution
  • Clarity

2. Second Pass

Focus on figures.

Mark relevant but unread works for further reading.

2.1. Outcome

You now should be able to summarize with supporting evidence.

3. Third Pass

Try to re-implement the work.

Date: 2026-06-18 Thu