How to read research paper, textbook, long text content? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: shivajikobardan
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: January 08, 2022, 01:08:11 pm
content: I can read less text content easily. my way of reading it is to make slides of all those texts and learn from the slides.But I have issue with reading huge huge texts as you know in this case it will require too much time when I do this. Is there way to simplify this reading style?eg-: of sth that I want to read is this.https://static.googleusercontent.com/media/research.google.com/en//archive/gfs-sosp2003.pdfIt takes me 45 minutes to read 3 paragraph and comprehend it at least.If I go that way, you can imagine, how long it takes me to read a research paper. Probably a week to read a research paper lol. Even reading articles in internet is a hassle for me if they are longer. If I just read what I need to learn it is easy as it will be few paragraphs but if I have to learn sth else long it is pain to me as I can't do it timely manner.Are there any udemy courses that teach how to read textbooks for university students that you are aware of?

author: jpanhalt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 08, 2022, 01:31:40 pm
content: Aren't you in your last year? Are you just discovering this?You are not alone when it comes to technical papers, e.g., ones with math or chemistry. Just do it. There are no shortcuts.

author: rstofer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 08, 2022, 04:38:39 pm
content: That is a well written paper in that the idea for each paragraph is contained in the first sentence or maybe two sentences. The other sentences fill in the details and they may not even be important.So, I would rip through the material, reading the first sentence or two of each paragraph and just brushing over the details. Then, on the second reading, I would have a good idea which paragraphs are really important. Do we really care if Google chose a 64MB chunk size? Unless we're planning to be the next Google, with terabytes in flight, it just doesn't matter.It is unlikely that you will retain all of the information after a single reading. In fact, I don't remember facts as much as I remember where I read them.There are 3 kind of information to glean from any paper:1) Need to know2) Nice to know3) Don't careSpend time accordingly. Unless your prof tests on insignificant details.On a paper as dense as the Google paper, plan on reading it at least 3 times. Each pass will fill in the gaps left from prior readings.I also draw pictures on a notepad.

author: Siwastaja
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 08, 2022, 04:49:50 pm
content: Reading and understanding is like any skill, practice, practice and practice. There is no way around it.Reading a lot - and also scientific material - as a kid does good, but unless you have a time machine, you can't go back. Good news is, it's still not too late, just a bit more demanding.It may be helpful to first read, then write a summary in your own words.

author: rstofer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 08, 2022, 05:14:23 pm
content: Quote from: Siwastaja on January 08, 2022, 04:49:50 pmI had a course one time that required us to outline the book. Seriously...Nevertheless, scribbling an outline is a good idea. Clearly, this can be transferred to Word for a cleaned up copy.Developing skills at outlining will be very useful in a working environment. Meeting notes, project plans, etc.

author: BeBuLamar
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 08, 2022, 06:25:43 pm
content: I never outline my books. If the author think it should be outlined he should have done it already. If you have difficulty understanding then you should read the full text and not trying to do any short cut.

author: jonpaul
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 09, 2022, 10:53:00 am
content: shivajikobardan,I have a huge collection of text books, manuals and papers back to 1960s, University. May are still relivant to my work and interest.I have not had the issues you mention.I can rapidly read and scan a text or paper for the first pages and main points:Is it well written?Any new knowledge for me?Authors background and authority?After the quick read, I can discard it as poorly written (many) irrelevant or old news.If its valuable I will add to my library and read in detail later.Bon ChanceJonPS: I am unsure your location, in case your English is you second language , suggest apps like DuoLinguohttps://www.duolingo.com/learnAlso we use DeepL and Reverso

author: armandine2
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 09, 2022, 09:35:03 pm
content: I got Nathaniel Johnston'sIntroduction to Linear and Matrix Algebra(2021) recently - the textbook (and his other advanced one) is expounded by the author (fully) on youTube.The content isn't a notoriously hard one but Nathaniel may be indicative of a new publishing mode, I think (for what its worth) he has set a high bar.

author: armandine2
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 09, 2022, 09:39:09 pm
content: Quote from: BeBuLamar on January 08, 2022, 06:25:43 pmI once bought a load of sociology books in a charity shop - they were previously owned by a professor at the local university and were mostly from his student years at Cambridge - they were all read and underlined throughout.

author: BeBuLamar
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 09, 2022, 10:35:00 pm
content: Quote from: armandine2 on January 09, 2022, 09:39:09 pmMost students do outline their books and for that I paid the extra money to get new book. If the author of the book think something is more important than others he/she would print the book that way. Either highlighted or in bold or in italic. I would rewrite what I got out of the book but not mess with the orginal book. Someone else may think other parts of the book are more important.

author: rpiloverbd
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 10, 2022, 04:16:58 pm
content: I think we all went through the difficulty in student life. I usually divided my reading materials and didn't go through a whole chapter in one sitting. Sometimes it took 2-3 days. Sometimes more.

author: JacobPilsen
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 11, 2022, 08:03:13 pm
content: Some textbooks are literally a waste of time.Go ahead and find another (better) book on the same topic.

author: Shock
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 17, 2022, 08:39:59 am
content: I found it easy reading just skimming over it. I could give you an overview with a couple of reads. But to recite more than bullet points I'd have to break it down to sections and take notes.I've read about file systems before so in this case have a good understanding of terminology. I'm an above average english reader meaning I can read and understand technical subjects.I would say try to highlight like below, getting 90% of the facts. Then when you start to memorize them and lookup and understand the terminology, successive reads will put them into context without being burdened by what fact was given in the previous sentences. Lastly I'd make question/answer flip cards if I was going to be tested on it. i.e Q. In the design overview how many files did they assume? A. a few million.For example, we haverelaxed GFS’s consistencymodel to vastlysimplify the file system withoutimposing an onerousburden on the applications. We have also introduced anatomic append operationso thatmultiple clients can append concurrently to a filewithout extra synchronization between them. These will be discussed in more details later in thepaper. MultipleGFS clusters are currently deployed for different purposes. Thelargest ones have over 1000 storage nodes,over 300 TB of diskstorage, and are heavily accessed byhundreds of clientson distinct machines on a continuous basis.2. DESIGN OVERVIEW2.1 AssumptionsIn designing a file system for our needs, we have been guided by assumptions that offer both challenges and op- portunities. We alluded to some key observations earlier and now lay out our assumptions in more details. • The system is built from many inexpensive commodity components that often fail. It mustconstantly monitor itself and detect, tolerate, and recover promptly from component failureson a routine basis.The system stores a modest number of large files. Weexpect a few million files, each typically100 MB or largerin size.are the common case and should bemanaged efficiently.Small filesmust be supported, but we neednot optimizefor them