Reading scholarly articles can feel overwhelming at first, but with a few strategies, you can learn to extract the most important information quickly and efficiently. This guide will walk you through the key parts of a scholarly article and how to approach reading them.
- Abstract: A summary of the article’s purpose, methods, and findings.
- Introduction: Background information and the research question.
- Methods: How the research was conducted.
- Results: The data and findings.
- Discussion: Interpretation of the results.
- References: Sources cited by the authors.
- Highlight key terms and definitions.
- Write down the main research question and findings.
- Summarize each section in your own words.
- Note any questions or confusing parts to ask your instructor or librarian.
1. Start with the Abstract to get a quick overview.
2. Read the Introduction to understand the research question.
3. Skim the Discussion to see the authors’ conclusions.
4. Review the Results if you need detailed data.
5. Look at the Methods only if you need to understand how the study was done.
- Purdue OWL: https://owl.purdue.edu
- UMSV Library Research Help: mountsaintvincent.edu/library
- Phone: 718-405-3398
Portions of this guide were developed with the assistance of Microsoft Copilot, an AI-powered tool used to support content creation and formatting. This information is sharable with a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA) license