Reading and Reviewing Papers › Module 4: Managing what you read

Notes that help you later

Lesson 2 of 3 · 2 min

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In three months you will not remember what you read today. Good notes are what turn reading into research.

One note per paper

Use the same short template every time:

Citation key
Example: keshav2007read
One-sentence summary
Example: Proposes reading papers in three passes of increasing depth.
Question
Example: How can researchers read papers efficiently?
Method / data
Example: An experience-based guide, no experiments
Main result
Example: First pass 5–10 min; five Cs; third pass = virtual re-implementation
Strengths
Example: Simple, widely used
Weaknesses / limits
Example: Based on one person's experience, not tested
Useful for my project because
Example: Gives a method for my reading plan
Quotes (with page)
Example: "..." p. 83

Write in your own words

Copying sentences from the abstract feels productive but teaches you little, and it is a common way to plagiarise by accident later. Summarise from memory after reading, then check.

If you do copy exact words, put them in quotation marks with the page number, so you always know which words are not yours.

Link your notes

Add tags, such as "baseline", "dataset", "contradicts X", so you can find related papers later. Some people use tools like Obsidian or Notion for linked notes. A simple spreadsheet also works. The tool matters much less than using it every time.

RememberThe best note answers the question: "Why would I come back to this paper?"