Scholarly Research Articles: Welcome

Research Study Article Characteristics

Journal articles written to disseminate the results of original research share some common characteristics:

• They are long - often 10-20 pages in length.
• They have a LOT of citations at the end.  You can review these to look for more information for your research!
• They usually contain charts and graphs but not glossy pictures like you would see in an issue of People or National Geographic.
• They are written at an elevated, academic level and directed at others who work in the same field.
• Their titles are very specific and provide a lot of information about what the article covers.

Articles sharing original research studies also have a pretty standard format. Click to find out more about each section and to see samples of what they look like.

• Abstract
• Introduction (often includes a literature review)
• Methods
• Results
• Discussion/Conclusion
• References

Click on the link below for help generating keywords for database searches and for a video that reviews what peer review is and how it works.

Additional Resources

Watch the video below for an overview of the sections of scholarly research articles in the sciences and a recommended reading order.

This video was created by the University of Kansas Libraries and is under a CC BY 4.0 license.

Works Cited

Information for this guide was adapted from:

• BSCI 1510L Literature and Stats Guide: 3.2 Components of a Scientific Paper from Vanderbilt University
• Major Parts of a Research Article from Marymount University Library & Learning Services

Activity

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