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3 years ago in Base Papers By Manasa
Is it better to read the original base paper first or start with a recent review that summarizes it and many others?
My reading list is huge. To save time, I'm tempted to just read modern review papers that summarize key findings. But I worry I'll miss nuance and the original author's intent. What's the most efficient yet rigorous reading order?
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By Amardeep Singh Answered 1 year ago
I always advise a sandwich method for efficiency without sacrificing rigor. Start with a recent, high-quality review paper (last 2-3 years). This gives you the modern map of the field and highlights which older papers are still considered pivotal. Then, go read those 5-10 highlighted base papers in their original form. Focus on their abstract, introduction, and conclusion to grasp the core problem and claimed contribution. Finally, return to the review paper. Now you can critically evaluate the review's summary and see how the base paper's ideas have been interpreted and extended. This saves you from reading irrelevant historical papers and ensures you engage directly with the primary source.
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