Reading is an active task. Before and during your reading, ask yourself these questions:
• Who are these authors? What journal is this? Might I question the credibility of
the work?
• Have I taken the time to understand all the terminology?
• Have I gone back to read an article or review that would help me understand this
work better?
• Am I spending too much time reading the less important parts of this article?
• Is there someone I can talk to about confusing parts of this article?
After reading, ask yourself these questions:
• What specific problem does this research address? Why is it important?
• Is the method used a good one? The best one?
• What are the specific findings? Am I able to summarize them in one or two
sentences?
• Are the findings supported by persuasive evidence?
• Is there an alternative interpretation of the data that the author did not address?
• How are the findings unique/new/unusual or supportive of other work in the field?
• How do these results relate to the work I’m interested in? To other work I’ve read
about?
• What are some of the specific applications of the ideas presented here? What are
some further experiments that would answer remaining questions?