SOCI 60: The Practice of Social Research: Some Methods for Reading and Analyzing Articles

The resources below identify and define the parts of a scholarly article -- including:

• Title
• Author
• Publication (IE Journal or book)
• Abstract
• Introduction and Literature Review
• Methods
• Results
• Discussion & Conclusion
• References

And suggest ways to navigate through and takes notes on these different sections in order to distill and process the key information to apply it to your own research analysis and writing.

Please note that although some of the links below focus on "scientific" papers, the principals they build upon are relevant for reading any kind of scholarly article. 

Reading scholarly articles is a skill that you develop. Unlike a book chapter or magazine article you might read from start to finish, research articles are organized in a way that facilitates a more selective reading process, i.e. skimming and/or reading sections in a different order. 

There is no single way to correctly read a scholarly article. Even the researchers you're working with (PI, postdocs, grad students) may their own way of breaking down and reading articles, both within and outside of their field. Along with asking about their practices, here are some other resources:

• How to (seriously) read a scientific paper

  Grad students, postdocs, and faculty briefly describe their approaches to reading scientific papers. Written in response to this more humorous piece

• How to Read a [Scientific] Paper

  A "three pass" approach to reading a paper.

• Anatomy of a [Scientific] Article

  Focus on "dissecting" articles

• Research Paper Structure

• Interpreting Sources / Scholarly Articles (Research 101)

  Includes a tutorial on understanding the parts of a scientific article.

• Annotating an Article

  Video tutorial on taking notes while reading a scientific article.

• How to read a scientific paper

  Presentation on reading scientific papers, using "Are all apples red?" as an example.