Reading Scholarly Journals
As a student and scholar, you will be expected to read scholarly articles and papers, which may, at first be daunting. Scholarly journals are generally written for an expert audience. They may be dense, they may use specialized vocabulary or jargon, and they will generally cite sources and include a bibliography.
As you become familiar with features typical of journal articles, you will find that it is easier to navigate them.
- Most scholarly articles have an abstract—a short summary of the article written either by the author or by an editor.
- The introduction of a scholarly article, which may be a paragraph or a set of paragraphs, often ends with the main idea of the article.
- The main idea will usually be re-stated in the conclusion of the article as well.
- Many scholarly articles include a review of the relevant literature (other scholarship) about the same topic, putting the new work in the context of the old and justifying the author's contribution.
- Scholarly articles that report original research will often have a methodology section that explains how the research was done, a findings section that explains what was found, and a discussion section that explains why it is important.
These sections may not be labeled with headings (though they may), but you will become adept at identifying them yourself as you read more and more of the research in your field of study. Recognizing the landmarks will make your reading easier and more efficient.
It is important, when reading journal articles, to identify exactly why you are reading, because your purpose should shape the way you approach the task.
- If you are trying to decide whether to use the article in a paper of your own, you will want to pre-read as part of your decision-making process: read the abstract, read the introduction and the conclusion, identify the thesis in each of those places, and then consider whether this article will suit your purposes, instead of diving in and doing a word-by-word reading before the decision is actually made.
- If you are looking for a particular piece of information, you may want to skim the methodology and findings of the articles, but read the discussion of the findings or the conclusion more closely.
- If you are planning on analyzing the study, using it in a paper, or participating in a discussion about it, you will want to look closely and critically at the whole article; create a big picture first, and then read closely.
