These are the sections of a paper/article you should read first:
If you read these 3 sections first, you will find that you’ll be able to have a better sense of what’s going on in the paper. Especially in the technically heavier parts like the Methods section. You’ll also be able to decide if this paper is something that is truly relevant to what you are looking for.
When you encounter something you don’t understand, there are 2 things you can do:
Don't Ignore the References!
Read papers from the references. As you read more and more papers from a particular subject area, you’ll start to realize that a few common titles would appear more than once.
Finding and reading these papers often boost your understanding of the subject as a whole much more than compared to randomly picking papers to read. Also, you will add to your sources.
Lee, James. "How to Read Academic Papers without Freaking Out." Medium, 29 Dec. 2017, medium.com/ai-saturdays/how-to-read-academic-papers-without-freaking-out-3f7ef43a070f#:~:text=Be%20Curious,as%20truth%20and%20accept%20them. Accessed 8 Sept. 2020.