In college, I read a lot of white papers, A LOT OF THEM. Thankfully, there is a methodology to dissecting the often dense material that should help you the next time you’re trying to suss out what that darn paper is actually trying to communicate.

BQMOC’ing!

As you sit down with your next paper, coffee/tea/chai, bring along a notepad and jot down that list.

Identify the background information, this is crucial for figuring out why they experiment was being conducted.

Then, find what the precise question is within in the particular objective.

List the methods used in the paper, a solid p-value may be worthless if the methods are flawed.

Take particular note of the observations.

Finally, read the conclusion.

If you’ve kept a list, you should have all that you need to develop a clear understanding of the purpose, the question, the methods, and the observations of the experiment. You should also have some sense of the value of the conclusion.

For bonus points, you can now recreate the experiment.