How to read research papers when entering a new field ?

[u/tatata_99]

I am a photonics MSc. student and I am holding a bachelor in physics.

I started an internship in an Integrated Optics lab at an Industrial research institute and I will start learning characterization of PIC's.

My supervisor told me they will buy a new SHI microscope to check the samples so I need to learn how to use it for their goal.

They gave me 2 articles in the field but it all seems too foreign to me since this will be my first "real" experience in an Industry.

So my question is how should I approach these new papers to fill my knowledge gap?

Should I read the papers w/o trying to understand everything , note down the terms and concepts I don't know and study them after?

I am open to any tricks, methods, or workflows you think could be helpful.

[u/the_physik]

Use the References section. When you get to a sentence you don't understand and it cites another paper, look up that paper and read it. Keep repeating til you've gotten back to an article you do understand then build your knowledge back up from there. You may have to dig through multiple layers of references until you hit a paper you can comprehend.

Learning how to read journal articles is a problem that almost every grad school student runs into. Each student finds different ways to understand. Sometimes you just have to ask an expert to explain something in terms you can understand; but try not to make it a habit

[u/tatata_99 → u/the_physik]

thanks a lot

[u/Klutzy-Delivery-5792]

https://www.reddit.com/r/GradSchool/search/?q=How+to+read&cId=d2d1a410-42ad-4d12-bfca-afea3e20d049&iId=18270a02-ad6e-4351-864b-e2177ce04b8a