Reading a Scholarly Article

The title, author(s), and abstract appear first in a scholarly article. The abstract is a paragraph that summarizes the topic and main findings or arguments of the article. The abstract can help the reader decide if the article is relevant to their research without having to read the whole thing.

The introduction may include a research question or questions. A research question is a question around which the research is centered. In addition to or instead of a research question, the article may include a thesis statement, which describes the central claim or argument. The thesis statement may or may not be a single sentence, and it may or may not be in the very first paragraph.

The literature review may be part of the introduction, or it may be a separate section. In the literature review, the authors synthesize information on what other scholars have written about their topic. The literature review explains how the author’s research contributes to the scholarly conversation, which is the body of existing ideas about the topic. It also helps the reader become familiar with current knowledge and ongoing questions about the topic.

The methods section explains the way the author(s) gathered and analyzed the evidence in the article. If the article has a methods section, it will almost always be followed by a results section that presents the outcomes alongside statistical analysis of them. Methods and results sections are especially common for research in the natural, physical, and social sciences. Some articles, especially in the humanities, don’t have methods and results sections. However, the article will still explain how the researcher gathered evidence, such as by close reading a text, comparing cultural artifacts, or reading other secondary scholarship.

The discussion draws conclusions based on the evidence that has been gathered. The standard convention in natural, physical, and social sciences is to present the discussion after the methods and results. In contrast, the discussion section might also make up the bulk of the article, such as in humanities research.

The conclusion of the article summarizes the main findings and arguments of the article. It may also include ideas for future related research.

The works cited section is the last part of a scholarly article. It may also be called references or the bibliography. It contains citations for all the scholarly work which the authors consulted or used in their research. It can be very helpful to the reader for finding more research on the same topic as the article.