"A novice researcher can believe that the doing of research is primarily about investigation—running experiments, developing theory, or doing analysis. With experience, though, researchers discover the importance of developing an understanding. It has been argued that many experimental researchers do their best work after they have been in a field for five years or more, because it takes time to acquire a deep, thorough appreciation of the area, and of existing knowledge and its limitations. To acquire this understanding, you need to become an effective reader of research papers."
Zobel J. (2014) Reading and Reviewing. In: Writing for Computer Science. Springer, London