4 ms·
I was until recently one of those people who insisted on finishing any book (or movie or TV show, for that matter) they started. Otherwise, I wouldn't feel clos
by 6ak74rfy 8y ago
I was until recently one of those people who insisted on finishing any book (or movie or TV show, for that matter) they started. Otherwise, I wouldn't feel closure. I dropped a few books (Lolita, The Pragmatic Programmer, Kitchen Confidential etc.) but kept feeling guilty later on. I am glad to hear from so many people here that dropping in between isn't such a bad thing after all.
Related question: do you guys have a similar system for research papers? I've tried reading them a lot but have successfully made it through only a few. At this point, I even question if the effort in getting through their drudgery is worth it.
- lallysingh 8y agoResearch papers deserve no mercy. Mine what you want out of them. Only reviewers have to read them whole.
- philwelch 8y agoYou might also want to at least skim the whole thing if you want to use a research paper to win an argument, if you suspect that your interlocutor will try and find something to nitpick.
- b_b 8y agoI personally barely ever read the meat of the research papers. Usually I am only interested in the actual results, some of their related data or figures, and the abstract of the paper. I suspect that I am not alone in this, but I wonder if this is partly to blame for so many false research findings based on bad procedures and methodologies still surviving. I think many people do take modern research papers for granted and assume that if it is published in a scientific journal, it must be true.
- wenc 8y agoYes. Research Papers: - Read the abstract - Read the conclusion. - If paper still interesting, read the introduction and skim the rest of the paper. This was how I got through tons of journal publications during my Ph.D. qualifiers.