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How to Read a Research Article: Getting Started

About Research Articles

Research Articles are a type of scholarly article that presents full reports and data from original research studies. You may also hear these types of articles called IMRaD Research Reports, which is an acronym that stands for the four main sections of a research article: Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion. 

Research articles can be a bit overwhelming if you have never read one before. This guide will provide some information for how to identify the different sections of a research article, and how to review one. 

Reading a Scholarly Article

Skim: take note of important article information including the title, authors, and journal information for your citations. Read broadly. Skim the abstract to see if the article is related to the information you are seeking. If the abstract seems promising, read the introduction and the conclusion sections next to confirm that the research is relevant to your assignment needs. Then skim the rest of the article. It's okay to read a research article out of order if it helps you determine its relevance. While you are skimming the article, this is a good opportunity to also start developing questions you may have about the topic or content of the research. 

Read: Do a first reading. Take notes, highlight, and identify important information. This includes the author's research questions or hypotheses, the participants and study design, and how the study was conducted. In the discussion section, identify the important relationships or themes that the author(s) discuss. 

Review: Check your understanding of the research by writing or explaining out loud key information. This may require you to do another reading and review different sections of the article. 

  • What is the research investigating? What are the research questions? [introduction]
  • What are the researcher's hypotheses? [introduction]
  • Why is this important? [introduction]
  • What are the research methods? [Methods]
    • Who are the participants
    • What type of data is being collected? 
    • How is the data being collected? Surveys, interviews, experiments, etc.?
  • What are the results of the study? [Results]
  • What important themes, relationships, or ideas do the authors identify? [Discussion]
  • How does this related to existing information on this topic? [Discussion]
  • Are there any limitations/gaps in the research? What could be studied in the future to help fill these gaps? [Discussion/Conclusion]

 

Structure of a Research Article

Research articles typically have six different sections in the following order: 

Abstract: this is a short summary of the article, which concisely summarizes the methodology, results, and conclusions of the research. 

Introduction: the introduction section provides background information on the topic. It also explains the purpose or importance of the study and how it relates to other research or professional understandings of the topic being studied. 

Methods: the methods section is sometimes labeled methodology or materials. This section explains the technical details for how the study was conducted, including how participants were identified, different research procedures, materials, and instruments used. 

Results: the results section reports the data collected during the study. This section frequently includes graphs, tables, and figures to help illustrate and make sense of the data. 

Discussion: this section is sometimes called the analysis section. As a part of the discussion, the author(s) analyze the data they collected. They report different themes, findings, relationships between data, and explain the significance of their findings. This section will usually report if the hypothesis is supported, or if the outcomes were different than expected. This section may also draw connections between the study's findings and previous studies on the same topic. This section may also cover limitations of the study and offer suggestions for further research. 

Conclusion: this section will summarize and wrap up the author(s) ideas and restate the significance of the research. 

References: every research study will have a references section where the authors cite the existing scholarly literature that they referred to during the study. Depending on the journal and the discipline, this section may also be labeled bibliography or works cited. 

 

Research articles may also have different subsections underneath the main headings. This can help the author(s) organize and communicate information with the reader. Skimming these headings and subheadings can help you identify important information in the article.