Since I did claim it was on-topic, I guess I'll try and write a bit. Most of my answer will probably be off-topic for Meta, but maybe I have accumulated enough goodwill here to avoid being suspended by the other mods...?
Reading research papers is challenging for an underdog like me because I often do not possess enough knowledge to fully understand the papers in one research paper on most occasions.
The accessibility of papers tends to depend on what field it's in. I find that a typical undergrad student would have a decent shot at understanding organic chemistry papers. You mostly just need to be comfortable with arrow drawing; these skills can be "extended" to other reactions without too much difficulty. It helps, too, when the authors provide a suggested mechanism.
On the other hand, other fields require knowledge that goes way beyond what's typically covered in an undergrad course. In my own area of NMR spectroscopy, I'd be surprised if an undergrad could read a paper and truly understand what was going on. You could definitely understand enough to figure out the overall aims and benefits of the research, but knowing how the experiment actually works requires a lot more knowledge.
Yet, I have to read them to improve.
In fact, I'd argue that you should not primarily be reading research papers at this point. And by that, I don't mean to say you should never read papers. You are right in saying you have to; it's just that you don't need to jump straight into that.
In my opinion, textbooks are a much better way of bridging the gap between undergrad courses & primary literature. However, you should pick textbooks that have at least some references to primary literature: that way, when something interests you, you can go and look it up. And when you see the paper, you already know something about it, because you read it.
Imagine spending hours reading the pages and writing a PDF containing ten or so questions and sending it to your lecturer and then getting no reply.
Have you considered asking whether you can talk to them in person about a paper you were reading? That's going to be a far more productive use of time than email IMO. Depending on where you are, Covid may or may not make that tougher at present... but even a video call will be better than email.
Honestly, if I were a lecturer and an undergrad (politely) emailed me asking about reading a paper, I'd be pretty impressed and willing to help. Not all that many undergrads do that.
Alternatively, if you find a chance to work in a lab over the holidays or something like that, you can try asking other PhDs or postdocs.
I wonder how the postgraduate people get through the problems.
It is a struggle at first, but you get better at it eventually. Unless you're a genius, you often do need someone to guide you along though.
Asking ten questions based on one paper read on Chemistry SE does not sound feasible either and will most likely not get a response
Yes, probably 10 is too much. I'd probably find it a bit spammy. You can definitely ask some questions though. In fact, it may be better to post questions one at a time, anyway: getting too much info at once might just be overwhelming, and you might actually find that the answer to an earlier question helps to clarify a later question.
Nothing can guarantee a response, though. I can't answer things I just don't know about, and the same applies to other users. We can only help where we can.
Are there any features on Chemistry SE that can help someone go through the research papers together, mainly to tackle the multiple questions that arise while trying to read one paper thoroughly?
There is, technically, chat. However, you need somebody to sit down with you and go through it slowly; and it's hard to find someone with the appropriate expertise and time. And chat is already pretty dead right now.
I'm happy to answer questions on main site (if I know how to), because I can choose how much to bite off, if that makes sense. But (as much as I would like to help people like you) I can't commit to an indefinitely long conversation in chat.
I will say, though, that if you want to follow up with me about something in this post, feel free to ping me in chat.
I am even willing to pay for someone qualified to do this with me, e.g. a few pounds per paper.
I really wouldn't suggest doing that online. However, if you find somebody in real life to chat with, then buy them a coffee or something.* ;-)
* Not me, I don't drink coffee.
