Research papers are written for professors and others in the field who are deeply familiar with the topic being investigated. They are not written for laymen or

Research papers are written for professors and others in the field who are deeply familiar with the topic being investigated. They are not written for laymen or as general introductions to a topic. Textbooks may be introductory in nature, or may be advanced and assume a lot of prerequisite knowledge. If you are trying to learn about something new, you have to start with the basics. If you are struggling and finding that the text makes no sense at all then ask yourself if you are diving too deep too fast.