UNDERSTANDING ACADEMIC ARTICLESResearch Workshop Series

Presentation Overview Introductions (Name, classes

you’re taking?) Important Terms How to find academic articles Major Sections of an Empirical

Study 4-Step Reading Strategy

Popular Sources

and Academic

Sources—What’s

the Difference?

Important Terms

Academic Journals Published by experts in field for other experts in the field

Sourced Objective

Important Terms

Peer Reviewed Many academic journals are peer reviewed

Panel of experts who review/approve for publication

Important Terms Empirical Research

Data from actual observation or experimentation

Primary audience: other experts

Contributes to an ongoing “discussion” of important issues in the field

Found in academic journals

How do you find academic articles?

Google Scholar vs. databases

EBSCO Search

You can narrow your EBSCO search to only search for Scholarly Journals (AFTER finding good search words)

Narrowing Your Search

Once You’ve Found an Article

6 Key Sections

of an Empirical

Study

Why learn how empirical research is organized?

Is the article relevant?

Why learn how empirical research is organized?

Know which section contains what you need

Why learn how empirical research is organized?

To save time

6 Key Sections to an Empirical Study

• Abstract• Introduction and

literature review• Methods/

methodology• Results• Discussion and/or

Conclusion• References

AbstractWhat it is A brief summary

of the study Lets other

researchers know if article is relevant to their research

AbstractHow to Read it Skim to see if the

article fits your research topic

If a good fit, read again and break it down into the different parts of the study

Introduction and Literature Review

What it is Describes the

research problem Summarizes key

research to date Shows need for

current study States research

question(s) and hypotheses

Introduction and Literature Review

How to Read it Read first and last

paragraphs, first sentence of other paragraphs

Identify research questions and hypotheses (at end of section)

Note sources that sound relevant to your topic

Method/methodologyWhat it is Describes how

the experiment was conducted

Method/methodologyHow to Read it Skim to identify

participants, measures, and procedures

Don’t stress the statistics

Tip: Imagine yourself as a participant in the study to make experiment more real to you

ResultsWhat it is Describes

findings reached through analysis of the data

Often includes charts, graphs

ResultsHow to Read it Skim to identify

the findings Don’t be scared

by statistics or tables. You don’t need them to understand the key results.

Discussion and/or Conclusion

What it is Summarizes,

suggests implications, explains importance of findings

Discussion and/or Conclusion

How to Read it Read first and last

paragraphs, first sentence of other paragraphs

Identify what the findings tell us about the research topic

Find suggestions for the practical use of the findings (especially at end of section).

ReferencesWhat it is Full citations of

all sources referenced in article

ReferencesHow to Read it Skim for other

sources you can use for your paper

Find references for any interesting sources you saw in previous sections

Back to the Abstract…

Read Abstract First

Sample Abstract In this sample abstract, let’s identify the

summary the following sections: Introduction Methods Results Discussion

What did we learn? How can breaking down the abstract

help us?

A Reading Strategy? What would you tell another student

about how to read an academic article?

What would you skim/skip/read in detail?

4-Step Reading Strategy Step 1: Read the Abstract Step 2: Skim the Introduction and

Discussion Step 3: Skim the Methods and Results Step 4: Read the Introduction and

Discussion in Depth

What we’ve seen Academic Journals, Peer Review,

Empirical Studies How to find academic articles Major Sections of an Empirical Study Breaking down the abstract 4-Step Reading Strategy

Takeaways?

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