How to Read a Visualization Research Paper: Extracting the Essentials

When pursuing an unfamiliar research direction, a researcher, possibly a PhD student, must undertake a literature search. This search aims to discover what research has already been carried out in a given field (solved problems) and what research hasn't (unsolved problems). However, in visualization and computer graphics, reading a refereed conference or journal paper can be challenging owing to its high level of specialization, complexity, and detail. Such papers often present a detailed mathematical framework accompanied by algorithms and data structures to carry them out and are usually written by (or with the aid of) experts in the field with many years' experience. This complex ity comes as no great surprise because a single paper is often the result of many (combined) person-years of work.