The Problem of Reading

How can one simply read a paper before properly understanding the project one embarks on by doing so? If one does, without first understanding that project, perhaps the net effect will be an accumulation of knowledge claims, sometimes called “the relevant facts,” later to be embedded in the as yet badly understood background project.
Can one not simply assemble a plethora of facts and, via that route, arrive at an understanding of named project? Or will the assembly forever conceal it?