Scanning the article
Many scholarly journal articles will be structured in a similar way. At minimum, they should have an abstract, introduction, and headings that show how the material is organized.
Tip: Don't read the article straight through! Instead, focus on specific parts of the article.
Ask yourself some questions prior to reading, such as:
- Why am I reading this?
- What specific information am I looking for?
- How thoroughly do I need to understand this information?
Read the parts of the article in the following order.
(Note: Some articles may omit one or more of these sections. Articles in humanities and social science fields, like literature, education, and history, may be based on the author's exploration of literary texts rather than scientific data – and will be presented differently. Make note of the typical structure of articles in the field that you're studying.)
1. Abstract.
This will be a paragraph-long summary of what the article is about, appearing at the beginning. If you found the article in an online database, the abstract will be provided there, too.
Use the information in the abstract to judge whether the article will be useful for your needs. If the abstract uses terms you don't understand, take the time to look them up. This will help you understand not only this particular article, but the language used by scholars in the discipline. Key words (important terms, phrases, or concepts) may be provided after the abstract. Read these as well to get a good idea of the article's focus.
The following abstract comes from: Nepal KC, V., Colombo, R. E., & Frankland, L. D. (2015). Demographics of Shovelnose Sturgeon in the Lower Wabash River, Illinois. North American Journal Of Fisheries Management, 35(4), 835-844. (Read the entire article).
2. Headings and subheadings.
Most articles will have different labeled sections. Make note of these headings and subheadings to get a better feel for the article's structure and the topics discussed.
3. Summary/Conclusion.
The following examples come from:
Addison, W. E., Stowell, J. R., & Reab, M. D. (2015). Attributes of introductory psychology and statistics teachers: Findings from comments on RateMyProfessors.com. Scholarship Of Teaching And Learning In Psychology, 1(3), 229-234. (Read the entire article.)
4. Introduction.
Read the first paragraph(s) after the abstract. What question(s) does this study address?
What is the authors' thesis? In scientific articles, this information tends to be in the final paragraph of the Introduction section.
5. Materials and Methods.
This section will be provided for many articles in the science and social science fields. How was the study conducted? What type of study is it? Is this research new, or does it replicate an earlier study?
6.Results.
What did the study find? Spend some time trying to interpret the figures and graphs.
7. Discussion.
What have the authors concluded from their study? Did the study answer the initial questions posed?
8. Finally, skim the article as a whole.
Keep an eye out for important words and concepts. Highlight any cited references that appear relevant. As you read, make your own annotations in the margins, pulling out the main points to the article.
The authors' bibliography (or footnotes) will list the sources that they consulted, and you may find these articles worth investigating for your own research, too.
