the prompt this whole guide is built on
I have to read this research paper for [class] and I'm new to the topic. Explain it in plain words: the question they asked, what they actually did, what they found and why it matters. Define any term I'd need to know. Then tell me which figures or tables are most important and what each one shows.
Your professor assigned a research paper and the abstract alone has six words you've never seen. It was written for other experts, and it reads like it.
You don't have to read a research paper top to bottom like a book. Most follow the same layout: abstract, introduction, methods, results and discussion. Once you know what each part is for, AI can give you the big picture fast, and you read the parts that matter with that picture in your head.
How to do it
- Upload the PDF and send the prompt above.
- Read the paper's own abstract next to the explanation. It should finally make sense.
- Go through the figures and tables it pointed out. In a lot of papers, that's where the results live.
- Read the introduction and discussion yourself. Skim the methods unless your class focuses on them.
- Close everything and write three sentences from memory: what they asked, what they did, what they found. Then run the check below.
Check what you got
Here's my summary of the paper in my own words: [paste it]. Tell me anything I got wrong or missed, and point me to the section to reread. Don't rewrite it.
Read it like a critic
What are the limits of this study? Look at things like sample size, who was studied and whether the conclusion goes further than the results. Point to where in the paper each limit shows up.
that's it. go try it tonight.
