Types of Scholarly Articles
How to Read a Primary Research Article
Reading and Understanding Scholarly Articles
Click on the image to explore the parts of a scholarly article.
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Note: Scholarly articles can be read non-linear. Because a scholarly article has clearly defined "parts" separated by headings (such as "abstract" and "literature review"), you can read elements of the article independently.
You may want to start with the abstract, to find out what the research covers: this will help you determine if the article is relevant to you. Then, skip to the end of the article to read the discussion and conclusion. These sections will summarize the findings.
Oftentimes, the introduction will tell you why the authors conducted this research and what was their claim. From there, you can learn more about the need for the research, the methodology (how the researchers collected their data), the results, and how the data was analyzed.
