Reading academic papers is often a challenging task, especially when faced with complex and extensive literature. Long technical jargon, intensive data analysis, and obscure theoretical frameworks often deter people.

However, recently I have discovered an efficient method that combines ChatGPT, OCR scanning tools, and annotation tools. With just a few simple steps, it can significantly improve reading efficiency and make understanding easier. Whether you are a novice researcher or an experienced scholar, these techniques will help you better grasp the content of academic papers.

Outline

Introduction of tools
- ChatGPT
- OCR scanning tool
- Annotation tool
Six step efficient reading method
- 1.Clear goals and guide ChatGPT
- 2.Get an overview and focus on the key points
- 3.How to deal with complex formulas and theories
- 4.Targeted questioning to obtain details
- 5.Optimize problems to obtain precise answers
- 6.Break down the problem and simplify the complexity
Can't copy PDF content? Use pdftopdf for OCR scanning
- Before scanning & After scanning
Mark while reading, tools are more convenient
Q&A

Introduction of tools

Before teaching you how to use ChatGPT, OCR scanning tools, and annotation tools to efficiently read academic papers, let me briefly introduce these tools so that we can better utilize them in the future.

ChatGPT

ChatGPT is a natural language processing model based on artificial intelligence developed by OpenAI. It is capable of understanding and generating human language, providing various text-based task support. For example, it can have natural and smooth conversations with users, answer questions, provide suggestions, and so on. You can also generate articles, stories, reports, etc. based on the given prompts. For lengthy articles or documents, if you want to save time, you can have them distilled into concise summaries. It can even generate programming code examples and explanations. The functions of translation and key point extraction are even more effortless for ChatGPT.

OCR scanning tool

OCR is a technology that can convert paper documents or scanned PDF files into editable and searchable electronic documents. Electronic documents are easier to store and can save you space to some extent. At the same time, it also reduces the time and errors of manual input, improving your efficiency in all aspects. The OCR website PDFtoPDF.ai that I have been using recently is quite good. I will give you a detailed introduction to the following content and teach you how to use it.

Annotation tool

Many friends may not be unfamiliar with tagging tools. We can tag important paragraphs, sentences, or keywords in documents, and also add personal notes or comments. Help us organize and categorize the information in the document for future reference. For this part, we will also give you a brief look at the effect later.

Six step efficient reading method

I believe everyone has a basic understanding of the tools introduced in this article. Now, we will start learning how to use ChatGPT, OCR scanning tools, and annotation tools to achieve six step efficient reading.

1.Clear goals and guide ChatGPT

First of all, don't rush to open the paper and start reading. Tell ChatGPT what kind of answer you want. Directly explain the help needed to it, so that it can give you a direct answer to the key points and avoid messy content. For example, you can tell it like this:

"I know you are a master of academic research, and now I need you to help me analyze the core content of this paper and explain it clearly and without nonsense." Please reply ok and I will send the paper to you in the next conversation."

ChatGPT will then give you targeted answers based on your instructions.

2.Get an overview and focus on the key points

Next, let ChatGPT give you a summary so that you can quickly understand what the article is about and whether there is any content you need. For example, you can ask it this way:

"Give me a detailed summary of the paper and, by the way, mention everything it says about everything from comparative analysis."

ChatGPT will directly extract the essence of the article to help you quickly grasp the key points, and then you will know where to read carefully.

3.How to deal with complex formulas and theories

Many papers may have formulas and theories that you don't understand, so don't force yourself to read them. Just ask ChatGPT to explain these things more simply. for instance:

"Help me explain the theory of social homogeneity in simple terms. I'm new to the field."

ChatGPT will walk you through it step by step and give you examples to help you better understand each formula and the meaning behind it.

4.Targeted questioning to obtain details

When you come across a particularly difficult concept or data analysis in a paper, you can dig deep with ChatGPT directly. For example:

"Can you elaborate on how cultural and temporal differences are used in this paper?"

ChatGPT will provide you with a detailed explanation and illustrate it with specific examples. This can help you thoroughly understand those seemingly complex theories.

5.Optimize problems to obtain precise answers

Sometimes our questions are not clear enough, and ChatGPT may not provide in-depth answers. At this point, you can ask it to help you optimize the problem, for example:

"Please give me a better version to choose from when I ask questions in the future."

In this way, you can get more accurate answers every time you ask questions, so that you understand the paper more and more thoroughly. For example:

Original question: What is the specific relationship between the profound influence of traditional values preserved in the paper and the original family?
Improved: In the paper, how is the profound influence of traditional values on mate selection manifested through the family of origin?

6.Break down the problem and simplify the complexity

If you have a very complex problem, you can break it down into several small questions for ChatGPT. Here's an example:

"The following question is relatively large, please break it down into several small questions to answer comprehensively." How does the introduction of family of origin affect the choice of a mate?"

Then ChatGPT will suggest that you break down this question into several more specific small questions for a more comprehensive answer:

What specific impacts does the family of origin have on an individual's mate selection criteria and expectations?
How does the communication mode of the native family affect an individual's mate preference?
How does the quality of parent-child relationships in the original family affect mate selection decisions?
How do the family values of the original family affect the priority and decision-making of mate selection?

ChatGPT will answer your questions one by one, providing you with a comprehensive analysis. This method is particularly suitable for in-depth research on a specific problem.

Can't copy PDF content? Use pdftopdf for OCR scanning

Many academic papers are in PDF format, but the content cannot be directly copied. In this case, you can use the tool PDFtoPDF to perform OCR scanning first. It will recognize the non replicable text as replicable text, and then you can have ChatGPT analyze these contents. This step is very important to make the entire process smoother. Using PDF to PDF is not complicated either. With just 3 steps, you can convert scanned PDF files into PDF text files without changing the formatting of the original document.

① Upload PDF scanned copy

Upload the documents that need to be processed to the website：https://pdftopdf.ai/

② OCR recognition and extraction

Quickly recognize the content of PDF scans through OCR technology, with an accuracy of over 99% in extracting results

③ Download

After extracting the content of the PDF scan, click download to obtain the PDF text format file.

Immediate experience

Notes：

1.Don't worry about paper materials either. First, scan the paper materials into PDF scans with your phone, and then upload them to the PDFtoPDF website for OCR text extraction.

2.Additionally, I would like to share a free channel with everyone: after logging into your account, you can see the free page conversion activity at the top of the website. Hurry up and share it with your friends!

3.If you are a corporate user, this website also provides API interfaces, and you can arrange technical personnel to operate according to the access document. You can also fill in the information at the bottom and get an invoice. It's really thoughtful!

Before scanning & After scanning

Is the scanned document almost the same as the original version, with no impact on formatting and no scanning errors? Hurry up and try it out!

Mark while reading, tools are more convenient

Finally, don't forget to use some useful annotation tools while reading to mark important parts and organize mind maps. This way, when reviewing later on, it will be more convenient to organize and truly digest the content you read. There are also some browser plugins, such as AI assistant plugins, that can directly mark and summarize on web pages, which is not too convenient!

Through these methods, you can make the process of reading and understanding academic papers more efficient and easy. I hope these skills are helpful to you. Everyone, go and give them a try!

Q&A

Q:How to register a ChatGPT account?

A:Regarding registering a ChatGPT account, you can refer to this article: The latest detailed tutorial on how to use ChatGPT - beginners can read it at a glance, which provides detailed information.

Q：Why can't I open the ChatGPT website after clicking on it?

A：To access the ChatGPT official website, one needs to use the internet scientifically and have a foreign online environment, commonly known as VPN. If you don't have it, you can search for it according to the following priority:

Ask your classmates and friends around you if they have any and what they are using, and ask them to recommend it.
Look for friends who do foreign trade or cross-border e-commerce. They definitely do, because they need to use it every day for work, or programmers usually understand it.
If your friends don't have VPN around you, you can search online on your own.

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How to use ChatGPT, OCR scanning tools, and annotation tools in six steps to achieve efficient reading of academic papers?