About Reading Groups

A research reading group is a small, recurring gathering where people read, discuss, and critically engage with research papers on a shared topic. It’s usually less formal than a class and more structured than a casual meetup. Groups often meet weekly or biweekly, and participants read a selected paper in advance, then come together to discuss what it means, why it matters, and how it fits into the broader field.

Reading groups are common in research settings. Their purpose is to help researchers stay current with new work and deepen their understanding through collective discussion. They also build a shared foundation of knowledge that strengthens collaboration across a team. The LDOS Expedition hosts regular reading groups for its members as part of the research process.

The purpose of this Undergraduate Reading Group is to help students learn how to read real research papers and talk about new ideas in areas related to the LDOS Expedition. It gives you a chance to explore topics not typically covered in class, see how researchers think, and build confidence discussing technical ideas with others. It’s also an opportunity to meet people with similar interests and get a feel for what research is like before joining a lab or project.

This reading group assigns a group of students a week to present a paper. Each week, one group will present an assigned paper relevant to the LDOS Expedition topics. The presenters connect the paper to the broader theme of the group, give a short overview of the paper, and lead the discussion using their own questions and ideas. At the start of their session, the group also spend about 10 to 15 minutes reviewing and responding to the questions and ideas that the rest of the group posted during the previous week.

Everyone else participates as non-presenters that week. Non-presenters are expected to read the paper in advance and come to the meeting with questions. During the session, they join the discussion, ask questions, and respond to the presenters' prompts. After the meeting, they read the paper a final time and post a short reflection or set of thoughts.

Your team should structure the presentation around three core elements: motivation, contributions, and discussion. Plan for a 30-minute presentation followed by 15 minutes of discussion.

The outline of the presentation typically should follow this structure: 

1. Background: Give a quick recap of fundamental concepts so the audience can follow.

2. Related Works: What are the previous approaches? What are their problems?

3. Approach: What is new about the proposed method? How do they solve the problems?

4. Implementation: Highlight the most important/interesting implementation.

5. Results: Is their evaluation solid?

6. Discussion: Is the approach a good fit for the problem? Any weaknesses or assumptions that might limit the approach? Can we apply this to other problems?

Expect and welcome questions throughout the presentation.