How Can We Help?
You will be reading many research papers over the next 12 months, and maybe this is something that you have not done before. Fortunately, there are techniques for reading a research paper so that you will get the most out of your reading. Keep your notes on the paper in an electronic form so you can track what research is relevant to your current work. The MSLE faculty may have some additional suggestions, but I believe that these are good places to start.
A highly recommended guide for analyzing research is available at How to Read and Understand a Scientific Paper. A worked-out example using this methodology can be found at How to read a vaccine safety study: an example. These resources were written by Jennifer A. (Kedzie) Raff, an assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Kansas. The guide specifically stresses the importance of note-taking and reflection during the reading process.
A slightly different approach can be found at How to read a research paper, which was written by Michael Mitzenmacher, a professor in the Computer Science Department at Harvard. It does not include all the steps above but may be sufficient. There is a corresponding PowerPoint presentation that may be helpful.