Breaking Down Scholarly Articles

Many scholarly articles follow a set formula, which can be helpful to have in mind as you read.

Abstract

On the first page of the article, you will often find an abstract, which is a summary of the author’s research question, research methods, and results.

Literature Review

Authors will provide a brief overview of the relevant research that has already been conducted in relation to their research question.

The “Research Gap”

Somewhere near the end of the Literature Review, authors may indicate what has not been said or not been examined by previous scholars. This has been called a “research gap” in the social sciences – a space out of which a scholar’s own research develops. The “research gap” opens the opportunity for the author to attempt to fill that gap because scholarly journals want to publish new, innovative, and interesting work that will push knowledge and scholarship in that field forward. Scholars must communicate what new ideas they have worked on: what their new hypothesis, experiment, interpretation, or analysis is.

The Scholar(s) Add His/Her/Their New Perspective

Then, the author discusses his, her, or their original work and analysis. Authors may include a discussion of their research methodology and results or an elaboration and defense of their reasoning, interpretation, or analysis. Scholarly articles in the sciences or social sciences may include headings such as “Methods,” “Results,” and “Discussion” or synonyms of those words in this part of the article. In arts or humanities journal articles, these headings may not appear because scholars in the arts and humanities do not necessarily perform lab-based research in the same way as scientists or social scientists do. Authors may reference others’ research even in this section of original work and analysis, but only to support or enhance the discussion of the scholar’s own research. This is the part of the scholarly article that you should cite from, as it indicates the work your author or authors have done.

Conclusion

To conclude a scholarly journal article, authors may reference their original research question or hypothesis once more. They may summarize some of the points made in the article. We often see scholars concluding by indicating how, why, or to whom their research matters. Sometimes, authors will conclude by looking forward, offering ideas for other scholars to engage in future research. Sometimes, they may reflect on why an experiment failed (if it did) and how to approach that experiment differently next time.

Adapted from Emilie Zickel’s “A Deeper Look at Scholarly Sources.”