Read a technical PDF without losing what matters

When to use it

When you have 40 pages and 15 minutes, or when you need to know whether the paper contradicts what you believe.

I am giving you a document. Do not summarise it section by section: distil it for someone who needs to decide whether it is useful.

Document:
{{document}}

My context: {{context}}

Deliver:

1. THESIS in one sentence, in plain words.
2. THREE FINDINGS with the concrete data that supports them (figure, page or quote).
3. METHOD in 4 steps: what they measured, with what, under what conditions.
4. LIMITS the document itself acknowledges and those it does not.
5. WHAT CHANGES FOR ME given my context: 3 concrete actions or "nothing, not applicable".
6. WHAT I DID NOT UNDERSTAND: the 3 concepts I need to clarify before using this.

Rules: use the document's own words for data, do not paraphrase figures. If something is the authors' hypothesis, say so. Do not add outside knowledge without marking it as such.

Variables to fill in

Tips

• ·Ask for the exact page of every figure: it forces verification and exposes inventions.
• ·If the document has 3 key tables, ask it to reconstruct them in text.
• ·Ask about what the document avoids saying: it is usually in the limitations.