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About Journals & Magazines: Anatomy of scholarly article

You were told to use scholarly articles for your project. Here is the explanation!

Within the scholarly journal are articles that document original research. Original research includes an experiment or test that the author uses to answer the research question. These scholarly articles are very formal and structured. They have specific components...

Components of scholarly articles

Click on the sections for details about each component of a scholarly article.

Components of scholarly articles, #2

Be efficient

To make the best use of your time, you must read actively and efficiently.  Do not read every word of every source you might use.  Instead, consider the following:

  • Read title and abstract (or 1st paragraph if no abstract) to determine source’s usefulness for you (60 seconds).
  • If these look promising, skim first 3-5 pages of source to determine if it will work for you (5 minutes).
  • If all signs point to yes, flip through entire article, noting headings, keywords, and topics.  Glance at the references (3-5 minutes).
  • Read article through, skimming sections that don’t seem relevant, underlining or bracketing important ideas (15-25 minutes).  Avoid taking notes at this stage; it will really slow process down.
  • Reread sections/passages you marked (5-10 minutes).
  • Write summary (10 minutes).