Research papers are supposed to be read in the following order: 1. Abstract 2. Introduction 3. Conclusions Skipping to the end sounds counter-intuitive, but i

Research papers are supposed to be read in the following order: 1. Abstract 2. Introduction 3. Conclusions Skipping to the end sounds counter-intuitive, but it will prevent you from getting lost in the nitty-gritty details of the paper. It makes rarely sense to read a paper front-to-back in one session. You have to pace yourself. Also, if you don't know the domain that well, you will get lost in trying to understand the "basics" and will have difficulties in making use of the paper's contents. Similar for textbooks. Usually, an effort is made to structure them for learners, but they can't help but end up being reference works that require a study plan to really be of use. Time is usually too short to try to learn everything. Thus my recommendation is to decide what you really want to focus on, and create a study plan of sorts.