For reading technical papers, I've found the 3-pass method in "How to Read a Paper" [1] helpful.
For longer/more complex topics, I like having an experiment that I work on, try stuff out, etc. While I'm working on the experiment I take notes on what I want to do, what I did to accomplish said objective, and what things I learned during that.
For longer/more complex topics, I like having an experiment that I work on, try stuff out, etc. While I'm working on the experiment I take notes on what I want to do, what I did to accomplish said objective, and what things I learned during that.
[1]: http://ccr.sigcomm.org/online/files/p83-keshavA.pdf